Step By Step
by x-BlackButterfly-x
Summary: Zoro and Sanji don't always get along. However they will occasionally have their rare moments which will always be special in some way, shape, or form. And it is in these moments that their feelings for one another have grown stronger. Modern AU following the build-up of Zoro and Sanji's relationship from the age of one. For OP Big Bang. Cover image drawn by luffys-booty on tumblr.
1. Beginnings

**A/N** \- This is my fic which I have written for the One Piece Big Bang Project. I was paired with luffys-booty on tumblr, and the art work that they have made is the cover image for this fic.

**Pairing/s:** Main pairing - ZoSan / Sanzo. Other pairings - Lawsan with mentions of Nami x Vivi, Law x Kid, Acesan, and other Sanji pairings.

**Warnings:** Mention of character death (side character), bullying, and eating disorders. Violence, foul language, and sexual content.

* * *

**Chapter 1 – Beginnings**

Zoro and Sanji don't always get along. To be honest, they hardly ever do. However, they will occasionally have their rare moments which will always be special in some way, shape, or form. And it is in these moments that their feelings for one another have grown stronger, from rivals to friends, from friends to lovers. Every step along the way has made them who they are today, and though they have had their ups and downs, they wouldn't change a thing.

Their lives together started from the age of one. Their fathers', Koshiro and Zeff, are old friends and live next door to each other, so as Sanji and Zoro grew up together, they were often around each other's houses as much as their own.

Zeff and Koshiro's homes are terraced houses which are in the middle of the street in which they live. Their homes are quite small, yet the perfect size to raise their families in. Zeff's home has a nice open-plan feel to it with two floors. The staircase that leads upstairs is pressed up against the wall on the right from entering the house, in the hallway. To the left is the door to the living room / dining room, and straight ahead is the door to the kitchen, these rooms also connect to each other, as well as the hallway. The second floor has three small bedrooms and one bathroom, perfect for the two living there. Koshiro's house is set similarly, with the same amount of rooms, and it's directly to the right of Zeff's home, left if you are inside. Their homes are perfectly symmetrical to one another; it's as if a mirror is separating their homes instead of a wall.

Sanji is Zeff's only son. His mother unfortunately died during childbirth and so he was raised by his father alone. Koshiro always helped out whenever he could, even with having to look after his own two children, Kuina, and his adopted son Zoro, by himself. Zeff and Koshiro would help each other out often, and look after all three of the kids while one of them was away, whether it was when Zeff was needed at the restaurant, or when Koshiro needed to work overtime at his dojo.

The first time Zoro and Sanji met, they were only one years old at the time. Not long after Zoro was adopted, Koshiro had brought him, along with Kuina, who had just turned three a few days ago, over to meet Zeff and Sanji. Both fathers were hoping that their sons' would get along and become friends instantly. To say things didn't go exactly as planned is an understatement….

* * *

A loud knock on the door has two large, curious, blue eyes looking up from a wooden playpen. They watch intently as a large man rushes to open the door, letting another man, who is holding a three year old girl's hand and carrying a one year old baby that has vibrant green hair, inside. The baby, in the man's arms, opens his big brown eyes which lock straight onto the blue eyes watching them as he is carried further into the room.

"Koshiro," a gruff voice barks happily, "it's so great to see you. My you've grown kid," Zeff grins as he ruffles Kuina's hair.

The little girl pouts at the treatment as she looks up at him, "I'm not a kid."

"Of course you aren't," Zeff chuckles, his attention now turning to the baby in Koshiro's arms, "so this is the little one you've adopted, huh?"

"Yes, this is him. His name is Zoro."

Zoro just looks at the older blond with an obvious hint of confusion, and to be frank it's quite adorable. Koshiro smiles and gently puts his son in the playpen with Sanji for them to play while the adults talk. Kuina sits in front of the playpen and watches the babies stare at each other, "…dad, the babies broken!"

"Broken, what are you on about?" Koshiro asks as he looks over to them.

"They not do anything, just stare at each other."

Zeff and Koshiro share worried and confused glances before they walk closer to the playpen. Just as they get there, one of them finally move. Zoro reaches out and grips tightly onto Sanji's blond hair, making him cry.

"Zoro!" Koshiro shouts as he tries to pry the boy's hand off of Sanji's hair. The blond's cries turn into sniffles as Zeff gets ready to pick him up.

As Koshiro tries to stop Zoro, Sanji reaches over and pulls hard on Zoro's hair. It is then him who starts crying and he retaliates by grabbing Sanji's hair tighter, while Koshiro and Zeff try to pry the babies away from each other, Kuina covers her ears and tries to block out the noise of the crying babies. Once Sanji and Zoro are finally apart, their fathers do their best to calm them down.

A few minutes later they both let out a sigh of relief.

"What do we do now? Do we try again?" Zeff asks Koshiro as he pops Sanji's pacifier into his son's mouth.

"I don't know…"

As the fathers try to figure out what would be the best course of action, both boys glare at each other for a while before Sanji takes his pacifier out of his mouth and throws it at Zoro's face, causing him to start crying again before throwing it back and pegging Sanji in the nose with the rubber object, starting them both off once more.

"Oi, oi, knock it off already, eggplant. Be nicer to Zoro…" Zeff sighs as both fathers manage to stop the crying.

Koshiro gently rocks his son in his arms and sighs. "Zoro, this behaviour towards Sanji is unacceptable."

"I'm bored~ I want to watch cartoons~," Kuina whines as she tugs on Koshiro's pants leg.

Zoro's father places him back into the playpen then turns on the T.V. for his sister, and Kuina grins as she sits down on the floor in front of the T.V. and starts watching cartoons.

As Koshiro turns around, Zeff is placing Sanji back into the playpen, "are you sure that's such a good idea?"

"Well they need to learn to get along sometime," the blond says as he shrugs and grabs the building blocks, putting them in front of Sanji, "are you hungry?"

"I'm hungry~!" Kuina beams from her seat on the floor.

Zeff chuckles as he heads for the kitchen, "I'll make you something then. Come on Koshiro, I'll make some tea."

As both fathers go into the kitchen, Kuina turns back to the cartoons on the T.V. while Zoro and Sanji play in the playpen. Sanji is reaching for a red building block beside him when Zoro snatches it before he can pick it up. The blond glares at the other boy then giggles and points to Zoro's hair, "gweeeen~"

Zoro frowns and crawls closer so he can grab the other blocks by Sanji, then grins when he gets a better look at Sanji's eyebrows and pokes one, "wirly~!"

The blond frowns and then attempts to throw a block at Zoro. The green haired baby tries to throw one back, and they both end up trying to hit each other with the blocks. As the objects, now turned weapons, are thrown around, one manages to fly out of the playpen and hit Kuina.

"Ow!" Kuina frowns and rubs her head, then picks up the stray block and glares as she brings it back to the babies, "who throwed it?!"

Zoro and Sanji look up at her innocently since they don't understand what she's saying, and Kuina sighs as she points to the block in her hand, "don't throws stuff!"

The blond smiles cutely up at her and his eyes widen when Zoro pulls on his diaper. Zoro lets his grip go, and it snaps back against Sanji's bare skin. The blond's eyes well up with tears, but instead of crying he picks up a building block and throws it at the other baby. This time it doesn't miss, and it hits Zoro across his face, causing him to cry hysterically as blood runs from his nose. Zeff and Koshiro rush over to the babies, gasping at the sight and Koshiro quickly picks up Zoro, instantly trying to stop the bleeding.

He glares at Kuina when he sees the block in the little girl's hand, "Kuina! You shouldn't throw things, especially not at Zoro!"

"I didn't do it! Sanji did!"

Koshiro only believes her when Sanji keeps attempting to try and throw more blocks at the other baby, even though he is too far away for him to reach.

Kuina huffs and folds her arms, "See!"

Zeff frowns as he picks up Sanji, prying a green building block out of the blond's hand, "Koshiro, I'm so sorry. I don't know what's gotten into him...he's never acted like this around anyone before."

"Right, well I'm going to take them home now. If you still need me to watch Sanji for you tomorrow just bring him over when you're ready."

Zeff nods, and carries Sanji as he follows Koshiro, saying goodbye and closing the door behind him and his children. He sighs then glances down to his son in his arms.

"What was all that about, little eggplant?"

Sanji grins up at him and points to the door, "gween~."

He chuckles when he realises Sanji is referring to Zoro's hair and he carries his son into the living room, "yes, that's right, Zoro's hair is green."

* * *

Even though they can't remember it, Zoro and Sanji obviously didn't get along well when they first met. They instantly disliked each other and made fun of each other, though they were too young to understand those feelings, or what feelings even were. Yet Zoro found himself drawn to Sanji's curly eyebrows, and Sanji similarly to Zoro's green hair. And though they found interesting things about each other that caught their attention, the fighting didn't stop there.

* * *

The following day, after the first attempt to encourage Zoro and Sanji to become friends, Koshiro is looking after all three of the kids as Zeff had to go into work. Zeff had heard rumours that today a food critic is going to be making a surprise visit to his restaurant, the Baratie, and he wanted to be there to ensure that the restaurant ran smoothly.

And so, Koshiro is rushing around to make sure that Kuina, Zoro, and Sanji are all happy, and are not getting into any trouble.

At lunch time, he places Zoro in his high chair at the dining table, and gets the high chair he's borrowed from Zeff, for Sanji. As he's getting them ready for lunch, Kuina is sitting happily at the table, lightly swinging her legs, while eating her sandwich as her father picks up Sanji and places him in the other high chair. Koshiro grins as he notices Zoro imitate Kuina, lightly swinging his legs as he watches her, while he gets two small bowls of soft fruit, which he'd cut up for them. He then proceeds to place the bowls of fruit in front of the babies and starts feeding them both small pieces of banana.

The lunch starts off well, the children eating quietly, however that's only until Zoro decides to throw his piece of banana, that he'd mushed up in his hands, at Sanji.

"Oi, Zoro, what did I say about throwing things?" Koshiro scolds as he gets up to get a wet cloth.

As he walks back over to them, Sanji throws some food back at Zoro, and he sighs as he cleans the blond up first. As Koshiro wipes Sanji's face clean, his son tries to throw more fruit at Sanji, but it hits his cheek instead. Trying not to lose his temper, he frowns and proceeds to quickly clean up the mess before making sure that the two babies eat more of their lunch than flinging it at each other. Afterwards, he sets them down on the floor in the living room so that they can play with Zoro's toys while he goes upstairs and changes the sheets in Zoro's crib, ready for the two to have a nap.

While Koshiro is preoccupied upstairs, Sanji crawls across the floor and picks up his teddy bear that Zeff let him bring over, and he grins as he squeezes it tightly. This brown bear, with blue paw pads and a blue nose, is his favourite, and it is almost the same size as the blond himself. Sanji frowns when Zoro tugs on the bear and tries to snatch it from him,

"I want it!"

"No! It's mine!"

The two babies fight over the teddy bear, each trying to pull it closer to them and snatch it from the other. After a minute or two of trying to get the bear, Zoro pulls on it harshly, yanking it from Sanji's grip, causing the blond to topple over and cry loudly, just as his father comes back downstairs.

Koshiro sighs and picks them up, Zoro still keeping his grip on the bear, and Sanji wailing as he carries them upstairs. He's too tired from running around after them all day, to deal with them fighting over a stupid stuffed bear. He just wants them to go to sleep so he can have a bit of peace and quiet for at least five minutes, hopefully more.

Thankfully, Zoro's crib is just about big enough for both him and Sanji, so Koshiro places them both into the crib and tucks them in. Zoro lies there quietly, hugging the teddy bear close to him while Sanji kicks his legs out and cries even louder, kicking the white blanket off of them in the process. The crying from Sanji is really starting to give Koshiro a headache, so he quickly grabs Zoro's dark green comfort blanket, swapping it with the white one, and tucks them in, sighing in relief when Sanji finally stops crying and grips the blanket tightly in his small hands. He then gently places the white blanket over the top of the other one, and hums to them quietly as they close their eyes and Koshiro smiles as they fall asleep in the crib.

Later that night, Koshiro opens the door to a very tired looking Zeff. After letting the other man in, he closes the front door and starts heading to the kitchen to pour them a glass of wine – which has become routine for them since he first started looking after Sanji. They would sit and drink a glass or two of wine in the kitchen, while Zeff ranted to Koshiro about his day in work, and how his staff always messed things up and caused more trouble for him. Zeff would then take Sanji home afterwards -, however, this time Koshiro is stopped before he can get to the kitchen by Zeff placing his hand on his shoulder, "not tonight, I'm too tired. I just want to take my little eggplant home and go to sleep."

Koshiro nods and heads upstairs, Zeff following behind him, and they grin as they reach the crib and see their sons fast asleep. Zeff gently picks up Sanji, and he and Koshiro are both too tired to notice that Zeff has wrapped Sanji up in Zoro's blanket, though even if they tried to leave it, Sanji was not letting go, not even in his sleep. They even failed to notice that Zoro still has Sanji's teddy bear.

Koshiro and Zeff then quietly head downstairs, luckily not waking up either of the babies, or Kuina, and say their goodbyes at the front door. They had no idea how much they would come to regret their mistake with the teddy bear and the blanket.

Two days later, Zeff had heard the good news that the food critic, who had paid a visit to his restaurant, had given him an amazing review with 5 stars. However, he has no time to be pleased or to celebrate that as Sanji was really doing his head in with the crying he had been doing over the past two days, and nights. Zeff had hardly gotten any sleep at all, all over a stuffed bear. He couldn't find Sanji's teddy bear anywhere, and his son wouldn't sleep without it. Zeff had tried everything to try and get Sanji to stop crying and go to sleep, from singing lullabies to him and reading him stories, to giving him other toys to sleep with and rocking him in his arms. None of them would work.

However, thankfully, last night when he found a dark green blanket - that he has no recollection of ever buying - Sanji had finally stopped crying, looking up at him when he brought it to the crib, and so Zeff had tucked Sanji in with the green blanket instead of Sanji's blue one, and sighed with relief when his son finally went to sleep. Unfortunately, as soon as Sanji had woken up, he started crying again and asking for his teddy bear.

And so, once more, Zeff is searching the house, looking everywhere for Sanji's teddy bear. He only stops when there is a loud knock on the door. Zeff opens the door to see Koshiro with Kuina, and Zoro - who is crying in Koshiro's arms.

"I think you may have something of Zoro's. We've looked all over the house and we can't find it," Koshiro explains as Zeff lets them inside and shuts the door behind them.

"Yeah, and he's crying alll~ the time, unless we give him this teddy bear~," Kuina grins as she holds up a teddy bear she was holding behind her back, "it's Sanji's right?"

Zeff grins when he sees the bear in Kuina's hands, "yes that's his. He wouldn't sleep without it, only when he had that blanket."

"Blanket? Does it happen to be a dark green colour?"

"Hm? Yeah it is…. let me guess, its Zoro's right? I'll go get it."

Koshiro waits at the bottom of the stairs as Zeff goes up to retrieve Zoro's blanket, and Kuina smiles as she walks over to the playpen where Sanji is looking up and over to them from the floor. The blond grins widely and reaches up to Kuina when he sees his teddy bear then hugs it tightly once it's handed to him.

Zoro finally stops crying and Kuina turns around to see her brother gripping tightly onto his blanket which is now in his small hands. Koshiro sighs with relief and says his thanks to Zeff before leaving with Kuina and Zoro.

Zeff heads over to the playpen and grins when he sees Sanji tightly hugging his teddy bear. For now he's content that things are peaceful and quiet.

After that incident, whenever Zoro was around Sanji's house, he would always leave with Sanji's teddy bear - it was the same with Sanji taking Zoro's blanket -, and Koshiro and Zeff had to apologize and give the items back on a regular basis. It wasn't long until neither Zoro nor Sanji minded whether they had the blanket or the teddy bear, though it didn't stop them from fighting over them just for the sake of it.


	2. Starting Off Young

**Chapter 2 – Starting Off Young**

Zeff still remembers the first time Sanji became interested in cooking, and he admits that he kind of pushed his son towards the same profession as himself on more than one occasion, however, Sanji had started this interest all on his own, and he was only 1 ½ years old at the time...

* * *

Sanji is playing with his toys in the playpen as Zeff sits on the sofa and flicks through the channels on the T.V., stopping when he comes across a cooking programme. Zeff has finally given himself another much needed day off, and he's thankful that Sanji has been quietly playing with his toys for most of the day. Though, in a way, taking the day off from working in the kitchen, to watch cooking programmes on T.V isn't much of a change as he's still watching carefully at what other people are making and cursing and shouting when they get things wrong, he just can't step in and fix things this time, which is frustrating to him, especially when the man on T.V over-whisks the cream for his dessert, and just abandons it, throwing it away to start afresh.

As he is shouting at the T.V once again, he notices Sanji crawling over to the sofa, "Oi eggplant, how do you keep getting out of that damn shitty playpen?" Zeff says as he glances over to the playpen.

Nothing has moved, and the wooden frame is definitely too high for a baby to climb out of, well it's supposed to be…

Zeff gets up then walks over to the playpen and checks for any broken wood or gaps that could allow a 1 year old to get through. Sanji still can't open the gate yet – which is a good thing – so unless he managed to climb over the frame then there is no other way he could have gotten out. Zeff makes his way back to the sofa and is surprised to find that Sanji is now sitting in his seat, which is also too high up for his son to get on without any help.

As he sits down on the sofa besides his son, Sanji doesn't even glance to him, as he is too transfixed on the T.V. His blue eyes are fixated on the cooking show and it's as if he can't look away. Together with Zeff, he watches the amateur chefs battle it out for a spot in the show's semi-final. The chefs have the difficult task of creating a four-course meal, including dessert, within two hours. Of course, the time is fast forwarded and some of the content has been edited out to fit the network's time slot, but overall the show is very interesting. Sanji gasps softly at the way each dish looks, and grins when the chefs describe their courses to the judging panel.

"You can be like those chefs when you're older, eggplant. You just need to learn how to cook the right way," Zeff grins as he gently ruffles his son's soft blond hair.

Sanji doesn't really understand most of what was just said to him, but the more he watches the cooking show, the more he wants to do what the men and women on the T.V. are doing.

* * *

Zoro was around the same age as Sanji, when he first started becoming interested in swordsmanship. Koshiro had started bringing Kuina to the dojo after school when he was late starting his lessons because of the school run, and had to bring her along, but he wouldn't let Kuina join in as she was too young. Instead, she had to sit and watch until it was time to go. As she had been watching their father practicing and teaching kendo to the children in the dojo, she had become interested in swordsmanship. She'd also been watching samurai films with Koshiro. When Kuina was playing with a toy sword and was copying the moves she'd seen on the T.V. as well as the ones from their father's classes, Zoro would watch her, and as he'd watch her, he'd become transfixed and would often try to imitate Kuina's poses.

Once they had caught Zoro imitating Kuina, they had bought him his own toy foam sword to play with. However, they had to eventually take it away from him for a while as he kept hitting Sanji with it whenever Zeff would bring the blond around. When Koshiro gave the foam sword back to Zoro, he tried showing him how to use it in self-defence - hoping that it would stop his son from using it on Sanji -, even though Zoro couldn't really understand what his father was showing him, but at that age he learned best through imitation.

Koshiro had been teaching Zoro defence technique stances, when Zeff barged in through the front door; carrying Sanji (they had recently given each other spare keys to their homes in case they ever needed them).

"I'm so sorry Koshiro, but can you watch Sanji for me? I'm needed at the Baratie. I don't know what's going on but those idiots I have working for me were sounding more panicky the longer I was still on the phone to them."

"Sure, I'll look after him for you."

Zeff sighs with relief as he passes Sanji over to Koshiro, "thank you, I'll be back as soon as I can."

Koshiro smiles and says goodbye to Zeff as the man rushes out to get to work, and he places Sanji on the floor next to Zoro, "I'll go and get some more toys out for you two."

As he goes upstairs to rummage through the wooden toy box in Zoro's room, Sanji and Zoro are staring at each other on the floor, in front of the sofa. The green-haired boy holds up his toy sword and shows it off to the other, who seems completely uninterested in the object. Zoro makes an annoyed sound before swinging the toy at Sanji, smacking the blond directly in the forehead. In retaliation for getting hit with the foam sword, Sanji kicks out at Zoro, trying to imitate the way he's seen Zeff kick his staff or any rude customers out of the Baratie, though obviously his kick has less force.

Zoro hits Sanji with his toy sword again, and the blond makes a grab for it, trying to snatch it off of Zoro. As the two of them keep fighting over the foam sword, Koshiro comes back downstairs, with a few of Zoro's toys for the both of them, and has to pry them away from each other as they are now grabbing and pulling at each other's clothes and hair.

Zoro and Sanji's constant fighting drives their fathers crazy. All they wanted was for their sons to get along and become friends. Koshiro and Zeff would often sit with them and try to make them play nicely with each other, but that wouldn't work either, just prolonged the eventual fight which would happen between them. As Zoro and Sanji got older, the fighting didn't stop, and they would mostly yell at each other or insult one another, only turning to violence when one of them initiated the fight.

Once they'd started school, their fathers would always have to rush out from work to pick them up when the fighting got too much for the teachers to handle. If it wasn't for them constantly pleading with the school, Zoro and Sanji would have been kicked out at just the age of four, for constant misbehaviour.

Zoro and Sanji had settled in nicely with most of the other children in their year when they first started school, and their teacher at the time had been very patient when dealing with them. The teacher for their first year in school was a young woman called Makino.

Makino is a kind teacher, who always likes to make sure that the children she's teaching are happy, and are not left out to play on their own. She has brown eyes, and black hair, which she'd often keep in a yellow bandana, and she teaches the reception class at the primary school Zoro and Sanji attended. The reception class is like a nursery or a preschool, where the children mostly learn through play. It is more of a transition class to help the children get used to the school, and for the teachers to learn where the children are in their development and what they can and can't do, before they'd go on to learning more through written work and other similar activities.

When Makino had Zoro and Sanji in her class, she found them to be quite a handful, but she could easily keep them in line. Most of the time, she found that Zoro and Sanji's fights in school were mainly started by Zoro being jealous that Sanji was spending more time with the other children instead of playing with him. She remembers that the first time she figured this out was not long before she confronted Zoro while he was sitting on his own one day….

* * *

Makino smiles as she glances around the room and watches the children playing together. She looks on in concern when she notices Zoro sitting in the corner of the room on his own, and makes her way over to him. Crouching down beside Zoro, she smiles when he looks at her, "what's wrong Zoro? Why aren't you playing with the other children?"

The four year old glances away from her and looks over to the small toy kitchen with the plastic pots, pans, foods and other kitchen accessories.

Makino follows his gaze and spots Sanji who is grinning as he plays with the toy kitchen set and makes pretend food for the girls that are playing with him.

"He'll only play with the girls," Zoro says with a pout.

"I see. So you want to play with Sanji too?"

A light blush tints Zoro's cheeks, "N-No!" he snaps, looking up at Makino with his eyes wide, "why would I want to play with him? I hate him…"

"Now now Zoro, hate is a strong word and I know you don't really mean it. Why don't you just go over and ask if you can play with them?"

"I don't wanna play with them, just Sanji… and even if I did, he won't let me."

Makino tries not to giggle as she finds it really cute that Zoro is admitting that he actually wants to play with Sanji, and she smiles as she glances over to the blond, then back to Zoro, "have you already asked him?"

"No…"

"Then how do you know that he won't let you join in? Come on Zoro, I'll go with you," Makino smiles as she gets up and holds out her hand for Zoro.

The green-haired boy looks at her hand for a while before gently placing his hand in hers and lets Makino take him over to Sanji and the girls.

"Sanji~ can you make tea for me and Zoro please~?" the teacher asks as Zoro sits on one of the small plastic chairs by the table, while she sits on the floor beside him.

Sanji looks over to them with his big blue eyes, and grins, "yes Ms. Makino~."

The blond goes over to the toy kettle and pretends to pour two cups of tea, one for Zoro, and one for Makino. He smiles as he hands his teacher her tea, then passes the other cup to Zoro, "here's your tea sir, please ask if you need anything, I hope you enjoy your stay~," Sanji says, fully getting into his role as a waiter.

Zoro grins as he takes the cup, "thank you, I will~."

Makino giggles quietly, and smiles as she pretends to drink tea, "mm~ this is good tea, Sanji."

Sanji grins and wiggles slightly in his spot with hearts in his eyes, "thank you, Ms. Makino~."

Out of the corner of his eye, Sanji catches Zoro rolling his eyes at him, so he snatches Zoro's cup of tea out of the green haired boy's hand.

"Oi! I wasn't finished with that yet!"

"So!" the blond four year old retorts as he sticks his tongue out at Zoro.

"Give it back, Curly-brow!"

"No, Marimo!"

The green haired boy makes a grab for the cup, and Sanji kicks Zoro's leg under the table. Before the fighting becomes more physical, Makino quickly stops them, "boys, there's no need to shout, and Sanji, it's not nice to snatch things from others, so hand the cup back. The both of you need to apologise to each other. If you two don't play nicely you'll have to have another time out and sit in the corner."

Zoro and Sanji show no signs of behaving as they pout and fold their arms, avoiding each other's eyes and mumbling a few hateful words towards one another. Makino sighs softly and leads the pair to the corner of the room which has two chairs. Zoro frowns as he sits in the little blue chair, while Sanji sits in the green one next to him.

"You're both in time-out for five minutes. When I come back I expect you to apologize to one another," Makino explains before leaving to help some of the other children.

Not a minute goes by before Zoro and Sanji are fighting again. Light kicks to each other's chair legs and mumbled insults are passed until Sanji kicks Zoro off of his chair. As he's too busy laughing, he fails to notice Zoro reaching out, and the blond squeaks when his chair is pulled out from under him, causing his to land harshly on the floor. Sanji glares at the green-haired boy then pounces on him. Hair is roughly pulled, arms and legs are swinging as they hit and kick out at each other, and Makino rushes over to try and stop them. As the shouting gets louder, the teacher from the class next door comes running in to see what's going on, and it's not long before the boys' fathers are called, and the two of them are reluctantly sitting outside the headmaster's office.

"This is your fault, moss-head."

"No it's not."

"I can hear you, you know!" the headmaster shouts, causing the two boys to jump in their seats.

Sanji glances to the floor and crosses his ankles, tucking them under his seat. They hear rushing footsteps, and he looks up to see Koshiro, who looks at them sternly as he makes his way over before he knocks on the door of the head master's office then goes inside.

A few minutes later, Koshiro walks back out and stands in front of them, "you're both lucky that they are not throwing you out already."

"Sorry…" Sanji says with a pout as he looks back down to the floor.

Koshiro sighs and runs his fingers through his hair, "and you, Zoro?"

"...Yeah. Me too…"

"Right, let's get the both of you home. Come on."

The boys get up from their chairs and follow Koshiro to the exit. Sanji bites his lip and looks down at his feet while he walks, "um, where's my dad?"

"It's the lunch time rush at the restaurant, he can't get away."

The blond simply nods, even though Koshiro can't see him, and he goes to stay at Zoro's until Zeff gets home. Once they get inside, they take off their shoes and coats.

"Right, I need to make a few phone calls, you two go and play in Zoro's room. I'll call you down for some snacks in a bit."

"N-No!"

"Yes Zoro. I know you don't like it when other people play with your toys, but you need to learn how to share."

Zoro bites his lip and quickly runs up the stairs and into his room.

Koshiro sighs as he watches his son, then turns to Sanji, "just go on up, and remember, no fighting."

In his room, Zoro makes a dash for his bed and grabs the brown teddy bear which is on his pillow. He quickly puts the bear into the back of his wardrobe, behind his other shoes and a few toys, and then hurriedly shuts the door.

As he turns around, Sanji walks in through the doorway. The blond glances around the surprisingly tidy room as he looks for something to play with and spots Zoro standing in front of the wardrobe door with his arms stretched out.

"What are you doing?"

"...Nothing."

"Are you hiding something?"

"No! Now go away!"

Sanji ignores his words and walks over to Zoro's bed. Zoro's bed has a built in compartment with sliding doors and it is where some of the green-haired boy's toys are kept. Most of the toys kept there are action figures with swords as weapons. Sanji remembers this, and though he has no interest in them, he goes to look in their anyway. Before he has a chance to open one of the doors Zoro shouts at him as he doesn't want Sanji to play with his things.

"Oi! Get away from there!"

"Are you going to move and stop me?" the blond says, and sticks his tongue out at Zoro before grabbing a few of the action figures and sitting on the floor with them in the middle of the room. The green-haired boy can tell that if he moves away from the door, that Sanji will try and look in there to see what he is hiding. He can't let Sanji know that he is hiding the other's teddy bear in his wardrobe, so he stays by the door and sits down in front of it, watching Sanji carefully while the blond plays with Zoro's toys.

They stay this way in silence, and it's not long before Zoro falls asleep in front of the wardrobe door, and eventually, Sanji gets bored and goes back downstairs to Koshiro.

A few hours later, Zoro wakes up when Kuina excitedly runs into his room after coming home from school.

"Zoro~, dad's taking me to the dojo tonight to train with the boys~."

"That's not fair…" Zoro says with a pout since he isn't old enough to attend the classes at the dojo yet.

His sister just smiles with excitement as she runs back downstairs; hugging Zeff who'd just turned up to get Sanji after finishing his day at work early.

Zeff chuckles as he returns the hug, "What's got you all worked up, Kuina?"

"Dad's letting me train at the dojo~."

"That's great, I'm sure you'll enjoy it," the older blond says with a smile as he gently picks up Sanji when Koshiro brings him to the door after helping him get his coat and shoes on, "we'll see you guys tomorrow, and Koshiro, bring Zoro over whenever you're ready to leave for the dojo in the morning."

Koshiro nods and thanks the other man as they say their goodbyes. Sanji spots Zoro sitting on the top step of the stairs, and he waves to the other boy. The simple gesture is returned before Sanji gets taken home, leaving Zoro alone at the top of the stairs.


	3. Promises

**Chapter 3 - Promises**

A few years later, Sanji has just turned eight years old, and Zeff has already got him working in the kitchen at the Baratie. Zeff mainly has the little blond peeling and washing vegetables or cleaning the dishes since he's too young for any serious cooking. For now, Sanji is able to make salads and prepare vegetables for other dishes when Zeff and the other chefs are too busy to do it themselves. Zeff was planning on leaving it another few years at least until he got Sanji to help out in the Baratie kitchen, but after the recent events he thought it would be best to teach Sanji the value of food, not just for others but for himself too. He's always taught Sanji the value of food, but it seems that some of it went over the boy's head as he started skipping out on meals. This is why Zeff found it important to re-teach it to him, and to show him that if he wanted to lose weight (even though he didn't need to) that there are safer ways to do so. Zeff's only regret about all of this is that he never noticed that his own son was skipping meals and starving himself. It all started 8 months ago…

* * *

_Sanji grinned as he finally escaped the stuffy classroom, and headed for the school hall for lunch, carrying his lunch box. On his way to the hall, the blond was stopped by four older boys who were about three years older than him and were in their last year of primary school, Year 6. Before he was able to defend himself, he was dragged to the back of the building where there weren't any teachers around, and his lunch box was yanked out of his grip almost instantly._

_"Oi give it back!"_

_The boys laughed as two of them held him back while the others took the food out of the box, and started to eat it._

_"You're right, his food is so much better than our crap school dinners."_

_"See I told you! His dad is that Baratie restaurant owner, so he's bound to get the best food."_

_"That's my food give it back!" Sanji tried kicking them, but he couldn't reach as he was still being held back. The ones who held him down used more than enough force and he knew bruises were going to form. Tears began to fall without Sanji being able to hold them back any longer, only causing the older boys to tease him more._

_"You don't need this food anyway, you're fat enough already~."_

_"Yeah~ I bet you stuff cakes an all in that gob of yours when you get home~," one of the boys said as he pinched Sanji's cheeks, "and you probably eat all~ of the Baratie's leftovers, chubby~."_

_"Get off me! I'm telling my teacher!"_

_"Eh? You don't want to do that~," one of them said as they pinned Sanji against the wall, "we'll just come after you again~ Hey guys. I have a good idea~, let's take his lunch every day since he doesn't need it with that fat stomach of his anyway~," the boy grinned as his friends agreed, and finally released Sanji, letting the little blond fall down to the floor, "who are they going to believe anyway, a little blond brat or us year sixes? It's four against one, kid. See you tomorrow~."_

_Sanji's lunch box was thrown beside him as the boys walked away, and he rubbed at his eyes as he stayed behind the school building until lunch time was over._

_The same boys continued taking Sanji's lunch every school day, and sometimes he fought back but he was beaten up for his efforts. When he got home and saw Zeff, he would lie and say that he got into another fight with Zoro in order to explain his cuts and bruises._

_The name calling and the words the boys constantly said to him were starting to get him, and as well as not having lunch on school days, Sanji started eating less of his food at dinner, and started skipping his breakfast some mornings. The blond was hiding it very well from everyone else, but unbeknownst to him, Zoro could always tell that there was something wrong with him as he'd hardly speak in school and they weren't getting into their usual fights._

_This went on for months, until one day, Zoro saw the year 6 boys taking Sanji behind the back of the school. Out of curiosity, he followed and his eyes widened when he saw Sanji just standing there and letting the older boys eat his lunch._

_"Oi, what's going on?"_

_"Z-Zoro?!"_

_"Ahah, look, one of his little friends have come to help to him~."_

_The older boys' laughter died out as Zoro attacked them, hitting and kicking them until they ran away._

_Zoro tried to catch his breath and looked to Sanji, "how long have they been taking your lunch?"_

_"…"_

_"Wait here," Zoro said, then left the blond on his own, coming back a short time later with food he'd stolen from the school hall, "here, eat this. I'd let you have mine but I've eaten it already…"_

_Sanji nodded his thanks and Zoro sat beside him as he ate the food he was given, "t-thank you….I'll bring you lunch tomorrow..."_

_"You don't have to."_

_"I want to," Sanji says with a light blush on his cheeks, "I'll make you school lunch every day from now on."_

_"Eh? Really, you promise?" Zoro grinned._

_Sanji grinned back and nodded, "I promise."_

* * *

After that lunch time, the two boys got called into the headmaster's office, as Zoro had told one of the teachers what had happened, and their fathers got called into the school. That was when they all found out about Sanji's lunches being stolen, and about the blond skipping meals. When Zeff started bringing Sanji into work with him to cook in the kitchen, he also started teaching him self-defence and savate, and it was around that same time that Koshiro had started bringing Zoro along to his kendo classes after school.

Both Zoro and Kuina have been improving greatly since then, though Kuina is still more skilled than Zoro and has already beaten him in over 1000 matches. Every day he challenges her to another match or two and every day he loses. He loves his sister, of course, but more than anything he wants to beat her in a match and become stronger, that is his ambition.

Therefore, once again they are having another match in the dojo. The rest of their classmates are there and so is Koshiro. It is the last day of the summer holidays, and during the holidays, the classes at the dojo were moved to earlier in the day instead of late afternoon after school, and everyday Zeff would turn up to bring Koshiro his lunch. Today he has brought along Sanji, instead of leaving the blond in the care of the others chefs at the Baratie, who is carrying lunches for Zoro and Kuina. Both he and Zeff get drawn into watching the match between the two siblings, and are unsurprised to see that Kuina ends up winning once more.

"Kuina wins! And Zoro, who used two swords, loses! Kuina is in the lead with 2000 wins to zero!"

The rest of the class gather around as the two siblings recover from their match, Kuina deliberately goading Zoro to get a rise out of him, as she secretly loves these matches as much as he does, though she often plays it off as a pain.

"Hmph, how pitiful, a boy…. And so useless …"

"Hey! Zoro isn't weak!"

"Yeah, Zoro is the best!"

"Even when sparring with the adults he is still very good!"

Their classmates back up Zoro but Kuina ignores them and heads over to Zeff and Sanji to get her lunch, "is that so? Still, he is weaker than me, even if he uses two swords he is still useless. Zoro, you should admit defeat, since you've lost."

"Lost again? What a pity, Zoro," Koshiro comments as he makes his way over.

"Sensei!" the other kids cry, "you've been secretly training her because she is your daughter, right?"

"Yeah, don't lie to us!"

"No, no, I've done no such thing. That wouldn't be fair to you or to Zoro as he is my child as well."

"Damn it!" Zoro cries out in frustration, "why can't I defeat her?! I want to travel and become the world's number one swordsman! I won't lose to anyone ever again!"

As Zoro grabs a bottle of water, Koshiro leads Zeff to the backroom so they can have their lunch while the class has their break.

Kuina grins as she eats her lunch, then heads towards the backroom to see Zeff. As she nears the door, she hears her father and Zeff talking. Before going in, she hears her name, and decides to listen in, so she hides out of sight beside the doorway.

"That was a great a great match. Kuina is definitely your top student."

"Yeah, that may be so, but eventually the boys will become stronger than her. It's only a matter of time."

"What do you mean? Weren't you saying just the other day that she would be the best person to pass on this dojo to in the future?"

"I did, but she's a girl of course. When she grows up she will just become weaker, while the boys get stronger. I'll probably give this place to Zoro when I'm gone, or too old to run it."

Upset, with tears in her eyes, Kuina quietly and quickly runs away to the bathroom, not wanting to listen to anymore of the conversation. She had always known that as she'd grow up it would become harder for her to compete with men, and so she covered her hesitation and fear with cockiness, acting confident to convince others and to prove to her father that she can be strong and could become the world's greatest swordsman. But to actually hear her father say those things about her behind her back was more upsetting than the truth._ I was right. It's impossible for me….Will I never be able to become stronger….?_

Late that night, Kuina is woken up by Zoro who tells her to go to the nearest park and that he will meet her there, and that their dad must never find out. Intrigued, she does as asked, and goes to the park which is a 5 minute walk from their house. It takes longer for Zoro to get there, but when he turns up, he is carrying two of their father's katana, including the one which Koshiro recently gave to Kuina.

"Kuina! Duel with me with a katana, I've brought real ones!"

Kuina is hesitant at first, as the katana are their father's, but she eventually agrees. Their fight is extremely close and dangerous, and in the end, Kuina manages to knock Zoro's katana out of his hand and call her 2001st victory.

"Damn! I don't believe this!" Zoro cries.

"Actually, the one who should feel upset is me."

"Eh?!"

"When a girl grows up, she will lose out to boys in physical strength…. I'm going to fall behind you and the others soon…. Don't you always say that you want to become the world's number one swordsman? Dad says that girls can't become number one," Kuina starts tearing up as she talks, looking Zoro straight in the eyes, "It's good that you're a guy. I want to become the world's best too!... But my chest has started to develop…. If only I were a boy…"

Zoro's eyes widen at Kuina's confession and he becomes angry at her words, "You're telling me all this crap after you beat me?! That's unfair! To become like you has always been my ambition!"

"Zoro…?"

"Does this mean that if I beat you someday that it is not because of my strength?! Doesn't this make me who has been training really hard to beat you look like an idiot?! Kuina, let's make a promise! One of us must become the world's number one swordsman! Let's see who can reach that goal first!"

Kuina sniffles and wipes the tears away from her eyes, "stupid…You are a person who lost to me… I promise!" she says with a smile.

* * *

The next day, Zoro doesn't turn up for school, which as it is the first time this has happened, it is unusual, and Sanji didn't know what to do during the day. Although most of the time in school he is around the girls in his class, Zoro would always be close by and they'd end up fighting, Zoro would also end up being his partner when the class required pairing work. And so today, although he wouldn't admit it, Sanji felt bored without Zoro around and he couldn't wait to get home and see why the other boy didn't go in to school. And that is exactly what he does as soon as he gets home.

Instead of going to his place, Sanji goes straight next door, and knocks loudly on the front door.

"Marimo, why did you stay at home?!"

When no one answers, the little blond keeps knocking on the door and calling out for Zoro.

"Moss-head?! … Ma~ri~mo~?! ….. Oi?!"

Still no answer, but he keeps trying, and peers through the letterbox. He only stops shouting when a large hand is placed on his shoulder and he looks up to see his father, Zeff.

"Eggplant, come inside."

"No. I need to see Zoro…. I have his homework…"

"He's not in. Now come inside."

"Where is he then?"

Zeff doesn't reply and gently takes Sanji into their home. Once they are in the living room, he tells his son to sit on the sofa, and then he proceeds to run his fingers through his hair.

"Oi, old man, what's going on?"

"….It's Kuina. She had an accident early this morning…..and she passed away…."

Sanji's eyes widen and he holds back his tears. He learned long ago about life and death, Zeff never felt the need to sugar-coat it and told Sanji about his mother's death from an early age.

"W-Where's Zoro?"

"He's with Koshiro at the dojo."

"Can I go and see him?"

"Best not to right now, eggplant, maybe tomorrow…."

In a matter of weeks, Kuina was buried and Zoro begged Koshiro to allow him to keep her sword. He allows Zoro to keep it, no questions asked, and Zoro declares that he will become stronger, that he will become the world's best swordsman, and that he will become so famous that even the heavens will hear of his name, for both him and Kuina. The little girl's room was left untouched since no one was ready to clear it out just yet, and Zoro refuses to look into Kuina's room as it reminds him of the sister he just lost. No one would think that Zoro blames himself for Kuina's death, but he does and for years it eats away at him on the inside.


	4. The Calm

**Chapter 4 - The Calm**

People can change a lot within a few years, and a traumatic event can prominently affect a person's outlook on life. Zoro was no exception. After Kuina's death, Zoro became more drawn back, and quiet, hardly showing any kinds of emotion and for the next few years he vigorously trained to better himself and to fulfil the promise he made with Kuina. The problem was, he started pushing people away, including Sanji, and so, for a while they hardly ever saw each other, only when they had classes together. The blond still gave lunch to Zoro every school day, but they'd hardly say a word to each other at the time. As well as this, another problem was that Zoro would skip school often, and when he and Sanji were in secondary school, he'd miss quite a lot.

One year – when they were 18 -, around the anniversary of Kuina's death, Zoro didn't attend for the whole week, and that Friday evening after school, Sanji goes straight to Zoro's house and knocks on the door.

"Oi Marimo! Open up!"

After a few more loud knocks on the door, he hears rushing footsteps coming down the stairs, and the door opens to reveal Zoro, shirtless and only wearing a pair of black sweatpants.

"What the hell do you want, cook? I was in the middle of a workout."

Sanji pushes past Zoro and walks inside, "where's Koshiro?"

"He's been at the dojo all day."

The blond nods and makes his way up to the swordsman's room, Zoro following behind him, and he dumps his bag on the floor after getting out the lunch he made for the swordsman that day, "why haven't you been in all week? Luffy's been eating your lunches so they wouldn't go to waste, not that he minded. I had to avoid him all day so that he wouldn't eat it this time."

They met Luffy a few months ago when he transferred to their school, and although Luffy is two years younger than them, he would always end up hanging around them, even though they have different timetables, they reckon the boy must be skipping some classes just to annoy them. It was Zoro who met him first. Luffy would follow Zoro around for ages, trying to get the swordsman to become his friend. After he finally said yes he still wouldn't leave him alone, then starting hanging around Sanji when he realised that the blond was the one who was bringing Zoro his lunch every day. It wasn't long after that they become friends with more people that Luffy had pestered into become nakama, including a boy in the same class as Luffy, called Usopp, an orange-haired beauty in the year above Luffy, called Nami, as well as a young boy who is four years younger than Zoro and Sanji, called Chopper who is already at the top of his year. The school is large and there are loads of students who attend it, so if it wasn't for Luffy, they wouldn't have the friends that they have now. It's not just the students that Luffy and the others became attached to. They ended up becoming close to three of their teachers; Nico Robin who teaches A level history, Franky who teaches woodwork and electronics for GSCE's, and Brook who teaches music to students of all ages throughout the school.

The door is left open as Zoro sits down on his bed and starts digging into his food once Sanji hands it over to him.

"…It's already been ten years."

Sanji's confused until he notices Zoro gazing at the door across the hall, which used to be Kuina's room, until they could finally bring themselves to clear out her things and turn her old room into a home gym, moving Kuina's important and irreplaceable things into the attic. Feeling the need to try and get rid of the gloomy atmosphere, not out of disrespect but because it's not helping Zoro at all, plus he's no good with talking about personal things either, he decides to glance around the room and try to find something to cheer Zoro up, and as usual, the place is a mess.

"Would it kill you to clean up in here once in a while?" _Shit, maybe I shouldn't have said it like that...?_

He gets no reply and he glances to Zoro out of the corner of his eye before walking as he takes another look around the room. As he looks at the bookshelf, something catches his eye. A medium sized, brown teddy bear which has a blue nose and blue paw pads, is sitting up-right in the middle of the bookshelf between two books, and Sanji is sure that he's seen this bear somewhere before.

"…Oi marimo, is that my old bear?"

Zoro's eyes widen and he stops eating as he looks over to where Sanji is currently standing, "w-what? No, of course not…"

"Yeah it is. I'm sure of it," the blond says as he picks up the teddy bear to have a closer look.

"No it's not," Zoro puts down his food and makes a grab for the bear, but Sanji moves away and holds it out of reach, though Zoro keeps trying to get it off of him.

"It definitely is. Zeff got out our old photos the other day, and in most of my baby pictures I'm holding this bear."

"Well it must have been a different one because that is not yours. Give it back."

Sanji chuckles and he keeps pacing around the room, Zoro hot on his heels as he keep trying to get the bear off of the blond, "it's got my name on the label."

Zoro groans as he goes back to his bed and starts shovelling the rest of his food into his mouth, "yeah it's yours, so what?"

"And you've kept it all this time?"

"Shut up. You still have my blanket in your room."

Sanji's eyes widen and he quickly puts the teddy bear back on the bookshelf, "no I don't…."

Zoro smirks as he glances over to Sanji, "you do. Zeff told me that the last time he was here."

"That shitty old man, I'll kill him."

Sanji growls when the swordsman laughs at him, but he lets it slide as this is the first time that Zoro has genuinely looked cheerful since Kuina's passing. The blond feels a small smile appear on his face after seeing a genuine one on Zoro's, and he looks away before the swordsman can catch a glimpse of the light pink tint on his cheeks. Zoro hasn't smiled like that since we were 7...

"Whatever…...here," the blond reaches into his backpack and takes out a pile of papers and a book, "your maths homework, not that you can do it anyway as you've missed the work because you haven't been in school all week."

Sanji dumps the homework on Zoro's bed and the swordsman rolls his eyes, "give me your maths book then and I'll copy the work."

"No."

"What? Why not? How am I supposed to do the homework then, shit cook?"

"Should have been there," the blond says as he takes out a cigarette, however Zoro stops him before he can light it up and the swordsman takes it from him.

"I've told you before, no smoking in my room."

Sanji rolls his eyes and goes back to his backpack to grab his maths book. Once he's grabbed it, he throws the book at Zoro, who catches it effortlessly without even looking, and watches as the swordsman proceeds to copy out the work that he's missed out on.

"I'll start on my homework then…"

A grunt in reply is all he gets from the green-haired man so he grabs his homework before sitting down at Zoro's desk and getting to work. Three minutes pass, but it feels more like hour, until Sanji is already bored with the stupid maths questions, though that's mainly because he's already stuck, and it's only the second question….

Chewing on the end of his pencil, he glances over Zoro's desk space. As with the rest of the room, the desk is a mess, though that's not what catches his eye. Sanji smiles as he picks up a blue picture frame. The picture behind the glass is of him, Zoro, and Kuina. The three of them are proudly standing beside a snowman they built together during a winter season. It was the first time they had seen snow, well, the first time they were old enough to remember it. If Sanji remembers correctly, he'd say that he and Zoro are 6 years old here, and Kuina was 7….

* * *

"_Oi, eggplant, calm down and put your coat on."_

"_I want to play in the snow already~ I don't need a coat," a young Sanji whined as he made a break for the front door._

_Zeff rolled his eyes in slight frustration, and kicked his son back into the living room, "put your coat on. Or do I need to kick you again?"_

_Sanji frowned at his father as he stood up and rubbed his head. This time he did as he was told, and put on his blue coat, along with a pair of black gloves, and his multi-coloured scarf with a matching hat._

"_There. Can I go out now?"_

_Zeff nodded in approval, and the six year old grinned as he rushed outside to his neighbour's, proceeding to repeatedly knock on the front door while calling out for Zoro, "ma~ri~mo~! It's snowing!"_

_The door opened up to reveal a scowling Zoro, who was wrapped up in similar winter attire, his coat, scarf, hat, and gloves, are all the same dark green colour. Koshiro was standing behind Zoro, and he lightly pushed his son forward and out of the door._

"_Right, you can only play in our front gardens, got it? No wandering off down the road."_

"_Of course," Sanji beamed in excitement, "come on Zoro~!" the blonde grabbed the other little boy's hand and pretty much dragged him out into their snow filled garden._

_Part of the fence that used to run between their gardens, separating them, had been blown down in the harsh winds a few weeks before now during a storm, and instead of fixing it, as it was likely to collapse again eventually, Koshiro and Zeff had decided to take the rest of the fence down and join their front gardens together, giving their kids more room to play out front._

_Zoro grumbled as he was lead out into the snow. He doesn't really see the appeal of it. All it did was cover everything which meant that he had to wear his scarf and hat which were close to suffocating him. With his free hand, he pulled his scarf down away from his mouth, and watched his feet as he walked, leaving footprints in the snow with his boots, and listening to it crunch underneath him._

_Zoro almost fell forward into Sanji when the blond suddenly stopped moving and turned to grin at him, making his cheeks red slightly, though arguable if anyone were to question him, he would have said it was because of the cold, and not the grin from Sanji, or the fact that the other boy was still holding his hand._

"_Look~," Sanji said as he looked down the street, "Doesn't it look pretty~?"_

"_Yeah….," the green-haired boy doesn't look away from the blond, not at all remotely interested in the snow, and only glanced away when the other brought him over to the middle of their joint gardens._

"_Let's make a snowman~ like in the movies~ it can't be that hard."_

_Zoro stared down at his hand as Sanji let go and started digging his hands into the snow. The blond glanced back to his friend when he realised that Zoro hadn't moved from his spot at all, and was still staring at his gloved hand._

"_What are you doing, moss-head?"_

_Startled by the sudden question, the green-haired boy quickly shoved his hands into his coat pockets, "N-Nothing curly-brow, shut up….!"_

_Sanji walked back over to Zoro and placed his hand on the other boy's forehead, "are you sick or something?"_

"_No! And get your hand off me! Those gloves are cold and covered in snow, idiot!" Zoro retorted, as his cheeks, partly hidden behind his scarf, turned bright red, and he batted away the blond's hand._

_He watched when the other simply shrugged at his behaviour, and they both turned towards Zoro's front door when Kuina called out to them._

"_If you're making snowmen, I want to help."_

_Sanji grinned when he spotted Kuina, wrapped up warm in light blue winter wear, and he rushed over to take her hand and helped her walk through the snow. The girl one year older than them only allowed the blond to fawn over her at times because she knew that her brother got jealous, and she liked teasing him, she liked teasing them both._

_She was right; Zoro would always get jealous when Sanji's attention went from him to a girl, faster than a light switch, especially when it was his sister. He knew she was teasing him, but that didn't mean he had to ignore or like it. And so, Zoro glared at Kuina, who smirked to him as she was led by Sanji._

_The trio started their attempt to make snowmen, but it proved to be more difficult than it seemed. Half unfinished attempts covered one side of the garden, some too small, some with only bodies and no head, and most of them were falling apart. While they tried to make a snowman, it started to snow again, and continued to for the rest of the day._

_Eventually Zeff went out to help them, and not long after, a large snowman was built. The three kids stood around it proudly, and as Kuina went to put her scarf around the snowman's neck, Sanji politely stopped her and they used his instead._

_The stones for buttons and eyes were put into place, and as Zeff went inside to grab a carrot for the nose, and to get his camera, Zoro took off his scarf, and gently wrapped it around Sanji's neck. The blond blushed and thanked him with a grin._

_A few minutes later, Zoro, Kuina, and Sanji, stood proudly beside the snowman they had built, as Zeff took their picture._

* * *

Putting down the picture frame, Sanji takes another look at his second maths problem. It's frustrating to say the least. He'd managed to do the first one fine, but… looking back over his example question, it seems that he calculated that first one wrong. Groaning in annoyance, the blond folds his arms, placing them on the desk in front of him, then rests his head on his arms and closes his eyes, letting out a sigh.

"Oi, cook?"

"What do you want?"

"If you're stuck, I could help you?"

"….what?" Sanji lifts his head up, and is slightly started to see a close up of Zoro's chest, "get your sweaty chest out of my face marimo."

The swordsman rolls his eyes and moves to lean his back against the wall beside his desk, "do you want my help or not?"

Zoro dumps his homework on the desk in front of Sanji, and the blond's eyes widen when he sees that the marimo has already finished all of the maths questions.

"How have you done all of this already? You've missed all of the lessons on it and you have only just gotten the work."

Sanji picks up Zoro's homework but it's yanked out of his grip before he can take any of it in, "no cheating, cook. These things are easy anyway."

"Like hell they are. I thought I was doing them right but I've been working them out wrong this whole time."

"Like I said, I'll help you."

"Why? What's in it for you?"

"Nothing. You want to pass your A Levels, Right? What did you even take maths for anyway if you can't even do it?"

"Yeah well, I need it, and I thought I could do it…."

"Let me see what you've been doing wrong."

"Fine, whatever…"

Sanji just sighs softly as Zoro starts to explain the problems. The blonde doesn't pay much attention though as he becomes too distracted by Zoro leaning over him with his bare muscular chest which is on show right in his eye line, and he starts imaging different scenarios where Zoro ends up pinning him against the desk, and they forget all about the homework.

"….. What?"

"I said, you've been multiplying at the end when you should be dividing it, you shitty cook."

"Shut up, moss-head…." Sanji mumbles as he turns back to his homework. _What was that all about…? I shouldn't be thinking about him like that... But I can't stop staring at him…_

"Do you want my help or not?"

"Yeah, just hurry up and help me work these out."

With Zoro's help, half an hour later, Sanji manages to finish his homework.

"Finally, it's done," the blond sighs as he puts his work away and back into his school bag, also taking back the plastic container he'd brought Zoro's lunch in.

"It's good that you've done the work, but have you taken it all in though, cook?"

"I'd rather take all of you in," Sanji mumbles quietly as he stares distantly at the swordsman.

"What did you say?"

The blond's eyes widen slightly and he quickly gathers his thoughts, coming back to Zoro with a retort, "I said, are you my teacher now or something, marimo?" he says sarcastically.

"No, I'm just saying…. We have our first set of exams coming up, and you'll need to make sure you remember this stuff… that's all."

"I know."

Zoro sighs quietly and puts on his shirt as it's getting a little chilly, then he sits on his bed, while Sanji stays at his desk. The swordsman tries to think of something to say before this silence becomes awkward, but he's coming up empty.

"Are you going to Luffy's party tomorrow?"

_Oh yeah, the party….._ "Yeah, I'm going. Are you?"

Sanji nods his head and replies, "Law will be there too."

"Oh..."

_Great..._ Zoro knows that Luffy doesn't have a problem with the so called heart stealer, so he shouldn't either, but with Law's known name, and the rumours about the man's track record with cheating in his relationships, to have Sanji, his best friend, dating Law, doesn't sit too well with him.

It isn't just because of the rumours that he doesn't approve of Sanji's relationship with Law, there is another important reason. And that reason is that he is in love with Sanji and has been since they were younger, he just never realised what those feelings were until a few years ago. Zoro remembers that when they were around 7 years old, he'd see the couples on T.V. shows and films, and hoped that he could be like that with Sanji. Of course those notions dispersed as he got older as he ended up not that interested in the sappy romance he'd constantly see on T.V, but his feelings for Sanji haven't gone away, they've just gotten stronger.

Zoro has tried several times to tell Sanji, but each time he'd finally build himself up to do it, Sanji would be with a new girlfriend, or more recently, a new boyfriend. He remembers when he first found out about Sanji's sexual preferences, he felt more hopeful knowing that the blond was also into guys, but unfortunately, as always, he'd never get to Sanji in time before the cook had a new partner.

"You two are still together then?"

"Yeah, of course we are, why wouldn't we be?"

"No reason, I was just asking..."

"….Want to go together, to the party?"

Zoro's eyes widen at the question and he looks over to the blond, but Sanji won't look back at him, "what? I don't think Law would li-"

"Not like that you idiot," the cook snaps, "I'll be running late from helping my old man at the Baratie. So just meet me at the park around the corner from the restaurant."

"What about Law? Can't he pick you up in his car?"

"He'll be working at the hospital and won't be at the party till he's finished his shift. Are you going to meet me before or what, moss-head?"

"Yeah, what time?"

"I'll text you," Sanji says as he picks up his school bag after checking his phone, "I've got to go, I'm meeting Law in a bit and I need to change first."

Zoro nods and watches as the blond leaves, then sighs as he lies back on his bed. Frustrated, thinking about the things he should have said, the swordsman falls asleep.


	5. Where Did The Party Go?

**Chapter 5 - Where Did The Party Go?**

The following night, Zoro is getting ready for the party at the D brothers' house and for once he's taking more care in deciding what to wear. He wants to wear something that'll impress the blond, but he's finding it difficult. The green-haired teen checks his phone once more, looking at the text from the person of interest; _Meet me at 8._

Zoro, in the end, quickly throws on a black pair of jeans, black combat boots, and the nice white shirt Sanji had given him for his birthday. As he heads for the door he grabs his black leather jacket and puts it on as he leaves.

Surprisingly, even though he's half an hour late, he's the first one to get to the park he's arranged to meet Sanji in, and so he sits at an unoccupied bench while he waits. For the first few minutes, Zoro keeps a look out for the blond, getting more nervous as time passes. He knows this isn't a date, but he can't help feeling like this is something that they'd do if they were dating. He's gone over scenarios is his head before, about waiting for the blond to finish his shift so that he could take the cook out for dinner. Other times it would be the cinema or any other place that Sanji would want to go to. It confuses him, because sometimes he can clearly imagine taking the cook out, and doing things that couples are apparently supposed to do, but other times he can't imagine that he and the cook would ever be like that. Not just because they aren't dating, but because it just isn't them, not with each other anyway. If it was Sanji and a girl from their classes, or even with another guy, he can see those things happening, as a matter of fact, he has, and it makes his blood boil at how sickening those thoughts are. Zoro knows that what he's read and watched in those sappy romances, that it's not what he wants, and it's not how things really play out either, but if he had a chance with the cook, he'd make a few exceptions, but only a few, as he knows how sappy the blond can be sometimes.

A few drops of rain land on the swordsman's head, and he curses as it suddenly turns into a downpour. Zoro groans as he tries to get some coverage from one of the trees in the park, but he is completely soaked by the time he gets there.

Sighing, he runs his fingers through his hair and looks up in surprise when the rain stops as suddenly as it started, only to find a black umbrella hovering over his head.

"Idiot, it said on the news it was going to rain. Why aren't you at least wearing a coat?"

"I'm wearing a jacket..." Zoro mumbles as he glances over to Sanji.

The blond is, as usual, wearing one of his posh, expensive suits, with a pair of dress shoes and is wearing a light blue dress shirt under his jacket.

"Yeah, one without a hood," Sanji scoffs, "what are even wearing, you look like an idiot."

"Yeah, well so do you, cook. And what are you giving me that umbrella for? I thought you didn't like getting your suit wet?"

The blond rolls his eyes, "I'm not giving it to you, dumbass. We'll have to share it. Now hurry up and start moving, I'm getting wet here," Sanji says as he steps a little closer to Zoro so that he's under the cover of the umbrella more.

They start making their way to Luffy's, both standing close to each other with the umbrella above them. The blond bites his lip as he constantly brushes shoulders with Zoro as they both try to stay under the cover while walking. The journey is quiet, besides the sound of the pouring rain hitting the streets and the umbrella above their heads, and as the sky is slowly darkening, the street lights are starting to turn on. The wind starts to pick up, and causes Sanji to tighten his grip on the handle of the umbrella.

As they get closer to Luffy's house, only a few blocks away, a huge gust of wind hits them, and the blond almost loses his grip on his umbrella. As they battle through the wind and rain, Zoro quickly grabs onto the handle when the wind threatens to blow it away, and in the brief moment he makes a grab for it, his hand wraps around Sanji's as well as the handle of the umbrella.

The swordsman blushes brightly and as soon as they have control again against the wind he quickly pulls his hand away and mumbles his apologies.

"S-sorry, I was trying to... t-the wind..."

"I-it's fine... I know..."

Sanji is in a similar state to Zoro, stuttering and red faced, and not just because of the cold and the harsh wind. The blond just can't shake off the feeling that even though it's cold, Zoro's hand felt warm around his own.

Once they arrive at the party, Sanji closes his umbrella and puts it away as Luffy and their other friends greet them happily, inviting them inside quickly.

"I'm so glad you could make it~," Luffy says happily with a wide grin on his face.

"No problem, Luffy. We wouldn't miss any of your or Ace's parties," Sanji replies as he follows the energetic younger teen into the living room. The blond frowns when he sees a certain redhead sitting on one of the sofas, and drinking cider.

"Luffy, what is he doing here?"

"Eh...? Oh, you mean Kid. Law invited him, along with Bonney and Killer. Isn't it great? Now we have even more people at the party~."

"He invited his ex to your party?" Zoro asks, his blood already starting to boil. _What the hell is he doing, messing with Sanji like this?_

The blond ignores them as he calmly bypasses Kid and heads into the kitchen. Zoro frowns and is about to follow, until Luffy places his hand on his shoulder.

"It's fine Zoro. It's the same as Nami and the others being here. They're just friends now, just like Nami and Sanji."

The swordsman nods, and greets Ace as he walks over. Nami joins them and suggests that Zoro gets out of his wet clothes and borrow some of Ace's while his own clothes are put in the tumble dryer. He agrees and goes to change upstairs, before making his way into the kitchen. Sanji is still in there, drinking alone, and the swordsman proceeds to throw his wet clothes into the tumble dryer, then crouches down to get a closer look at the buttons and stares at it as he tries to figure out how to use it. Zoro manages to turn it on, but that's as far as he gets. He glances around to see that the blond is still standing there by the kitchen table.

"Oi cook, why aren't you mad about this?"

"Why? Because I find your inability to use a tumble dryer quite amusing," Sanji replies with a smirk.

Zoro rolls his eyes, "not that, you ero-cook. I mean about Kid. You obviously didn't know he was going to be here."

The blond makes his way over and simply presses one of the buttons on the tumble dryer and it instantly starts its cycle.

"Just leave it, marimo. My ex's are here too, Nami, Ace, Keimi, Vivi... It's exactly the same."

Zoro gets up from crouching on the floor, and glares at the blond, "no it's not. You're still friends with your ex's, Law's last few relationships ended because he was still carrying on with Kid, what if he's doing the same to you?"

"Shut up! There's nothing like that going on this time, and what's it got to do with you anyway?"

"I'm not the one you should be getting angry with."

The blond sighs and he rolls his eyes, "I'm fine with it, moss-head... Do you want a drink?"

"Sure..."

Zoro accepts the drink then follows Sanji into the living after the blond has grabbed himself another bottle.

Music is playing, and a few small talk conversations are held until Law turns up, causing the swordsman to frown as the doctor passionately kisses Sanji in front of them all, and then proceeds to have the blond on his lap for most of the night.

As the night goes on, they end up talking about Zoro's kendo tournament which is coming up in two months' time.

"Oi, guys~ we should all go and cheer Zoro on together~," Luffy beams.

"Ah, I can't go..."

"Hm, why not Sanji?" Nami asks the blond.

"My cooking exam is on the first day of the tournament. Maybe if the shitty swordsman somehow manages to make it through to the second day, I can make it~," Sanji teases.

Zoro rolls his eyes and smirks, "of course I'll get through. I kick your ass all the time."

"Oi! I win in our fights as much as you do!"

Law whispers something into the blond's ear which makes Sanji blush and stay quiet while a few of the party guests mumble apologies to Zoro as they explain why they can't watch him at his kendo tournament.

Half an hour later, they start a drinking game, though a few of them including Luffy and Chopper stick to soft non-alcoholic drinks.

Bonney grins as she picks up her bottle, "never have I ever~ had sex with someone~"

Nami, Vivi, and most of the guys, apart from Luffy, Chopper, Zoro and Usopp, take a sip of their drinks.

"Zoro~," Nami purrs, "so you're a virgin~?"

"Yeah, and? I'm going to get another drink..."

"Aww~ don't be such a grump~ It's not something to be ashamed off~."

Zoro rolls his eyes, "I know. I'm just getting another drink," the swordsman says as he goes into the kitchen and grabs another bottle of beer. As he opens the bottle, he notices that the tumble dryer has finished so he takes his clothes out. Zoro walks through the living room, and notices that a few over people have wandered off, then he heads for the stairs. Once he's upstairs, he glances around the hallway and tries to remember which room is Ace's so that he can put the other's clothes back once he's changed.

Instead, he ends up finding the bathroom, so decides to go in. Closing the door behind him, he locks the door then proceeds to take off the borrowed clothes before putting on his own, which are not only dry, but comfortably warm, back on. Unlocking the door, he leaves the bathroom, carrying Ace's clothes, and tries to find the older D brother's bedroom.

The swordsman frowns when he has no clue as to where it is, and reckons that Ace and Luffy must have changed the rooms around again while he's been in the bathroom. Still in search for the right room, he opens and closes the door to the other rooms to check them, and is not at all surprised to find Law and Kid with their tongues down each other's throats in one of the guest rooms. Though he's not surprised, that doesn't mean he's any less angry about it, Law's making out with an ex while his boyfriend is just downstairs… Sanji is just downstairs…. And Zoro is fuming.

"What the hell are you doing?!" the swordsman growls as he makes his way across the room, dropping Ace's clothes in the process, grabbing Law by his shirt with both of his hands and yanking him forward once the older man has torn himself away from Kid.

"This is none of your business, Roronoa-Ya."

"Of course it is! You're dating my best friend!"

"Keep your voice down," Law hisses as he grips Zoro's wrist and gets the swordsman's hands off of him.

"Why should I? I'm going to tell the cook about this right now!"

Zoro makes his way towards the door, but Kid is already there and blocking his path, levelling the glare directed his way.

"Move out of my way."

"I think… no I know, you should listen to Law," the redhead replies, not budging even an inch from the doorway.

"And why should I listen to the likes of you two?" the swordsman growls.

"Because, Roronoa-Ya," Law speaks, turning Zoro's attention back to him, "who would he believe more, me, his boyfriend, or you, some jealous kid who wants Sanji to himself?"

Those words hit Zoro like a bucket full of ice water, and his eyes widen as the words roll off Law's tongue so smoothly. Zoro is rendered speechless as he backs away slowly. _How does he know that? If Law can figure it out or if someone else told him… then how many others know about this? …. Why is he even cheating on Sanji?_

With all those questions and more running through his mind, the only thing that the swordsman can tell is that this is definitely not the first time Law has cheated on the cook, if the sparkle in the older man's eyes is anything to go by. He seems too relaxed to even be bothered by this situation at all.

Law sighs and rolls his eyes as he walks closer to Zoro.

"Look, I don't care what you or anyone else thinks about me. But what about you, Roronoa-Ya, do others opinions of yourself matter to you? What about Sanji's?-"

"-That has got nothing to do with you.-"

"-The way I see it, when Sanji finds out, he's not going to believe you, and if he does…. well either way, the one he is going to hate the most, is you."

Zoro laughs bitterly and glares at the man in front of him, "what the hell would he hate me for? You're the one cheating on him."

"That's true…. However, I bet that if you tell him, he's not going to believe you. He knows that you hate me, and whether or not he knows the real reason for that I'm not sure... But to him, he'll just see your hatred for me and come to the conclusion that you are just trying to break us up. If on the off chance that he does believe you, well, he'll be angrier at you for telling him. People always seem to hate the messenger more in these types of situations. Whatever the case, it obviously won't sit too well with him. And deep down, you know that too. So if I were you, Roronoa-Ya, I'd keep my mouth shut."

The swordsman frowns and looks back and fore between the other two people currently in the room with him while he's conflicted on what to do. Without saying a word, Kid moves from in front of the door and opens it for him. Silently, Zoro picks up Ace's crumpled clothes that had dropped to the floor, and leaves the room. Once he's found the older D brother's room, he puts the borrowed clothes onto the bed and makes his way back downstairs.

As he reaches the doorway to the living room, he notices that Law and Kid have made their way back down too, but what has his blood starting to boil once more with rage is that Law has a drunken Sanji on his lap and is making out with the cook mere minutes after having another guy's tongue down his throat. Feeling angry and fed up, the swordsman leaves without saying a word to anyone and makes his way home. It takes him several hours by himself, even though it should have only taken him at around one hour tops, and when he does get home, he heads straight to his home gym to train, without even checking to see if Koshiro is home, and not at all caring that it is way past two in the morning.

Half an hour into his training, his phone buzzes with a text alert, so he stops what he's doing, then picks up his phone from where he had placed it on the windowsill. Zoro is surprised to find that it's the blond cook, that he has been so torn up about for the last few hours, who has messaged him. The text is a little hard to read, as Sanji is most probably still drunk, but none the less, it's easy to understand even with the spelling mistakes and the occasional added letters that are completely unnecessary.

_**Shitcook: Oiiiii u shtty mmarimoo! What yu leave earlly 4?**_

The swordsman rolls his eyes, surprised that Sanji even realised he'd left in the first place, or even felt the need to text him about it either, and he quickly types out his reply before hitting send:_** None of your business, cook. Are you still at the party?**_

Grabbing a bottle of water he'd gotten before training, Zoro leans against the wall by the window, and downs half of the drink. His phone chimes with another text alert and he instantly opens up a new message from Sanji.

_**Shitcook: Nooope. At Laws he's inthe shower, Mihht join hiim ;D**_

He frowns at the text, and decides not to reply, until another message from Sanji comes through.

_**Shitcook: Come tothe Baratie 4 luchh tomorrrrow. Night marimooo x**_

"Idiot….," Zoro mumbles quietly to himself, with a smile on his face as he replies to the blond once more before leaving his training and heading to bed: _**I'll be there. Night cook.**_


	6. Conflicted Feelings

**Chapter 6 - Conflicted Feelings**

As agreed, the next day, Zoro turns up at the Baratie for lunch. He's escorted to his usual table at the back, near the bar, and he orders a beer while he waits for Sanji. The cook shows up at the table a few minutes later, with Zoro's beer, and he sits across from the swordsman.

"Ugh, I have such a bad hangover..."

"You barely had any drinks," a small chuckle is heard from Zoro, making the blond angry.

"Don't laugh!" Sanji hisses slightly when his head starts pounding from the massive headache he woke up with, "what do you want for lunch?"

"...Teriyaki chicken."

"Nope."

"...What?"

"I said no. You'll get what you're given."

"Then what the hell did you ask me for?" the swordsman growls, already irritated with the blond cook.

"Just wanted to mess with you."

Zoro glares at the cook as Sanji grins slyly at him before getting up and heading back to the kitchen.

He huffs as he folds his arms, leaning back in his chair, mumbling, "idiot cook…"

A few sips of beer later, he's already bored, and so he decides to take a nap. Zoro closes his eyes, and as he starts to drift off, he feels slim fingers slide into his hair, and brush through the strands a few times. The swordsman cracks open an eye to see Sanji above him and looking at him intently. His cheeks warm up, and when the cook notices that Zoro is awake, the blond looks to be in a similar state as he coughs to clear his throat while he slowly retreats his hand from short green locks of hair.

"Uh, lunch is ready, marimo…"

"R-right…."

As Sanji sits back into the seat opposite him, Zoro sits up in his chair and is slightly surprised to see that even though the cook said otherwise, he still made the food that the swordsman requested. Taking his first few bites, the teriyaki chicken is mouth-watering, and it is only then that Zoro realises how hungry he actually is, and so he quickly starts shovelling the food into his mouth. Too distracted with his food, he still doesn't miss the scoff from Sanji and the remarks about his table manners.

He rolls his eyes, finishing up his meal, then as he puts his bowl down, before he can register it, Sanji has reached over and gently wiped a piece of stray rice from the corner of his mouth, and has eaten it, causing the swordsman's cheeks to heat up once more. _What the hell has gotten into that shitty cook all of sudden…?_

The blond smiles at him, then proceeds to finish his own lunch, a simple ham and cheese panini.

"So, marimo, you never did tell me why you left early last night."

Zoro bites back the words on the tip of his tongue. Right now, he really wants to tell the cook what he knows, but Law's words ring his head. He doesn't want to ruin this peaceful moment between them, and he just wants to keep seeing the blond happy. But wouldn't it be worse off when he eventually finds out? Won't he be mad at Zoro when he finds out that he knew all along?

He realises he's not said a single word in response yet, and so he quickly tries to come up with an excuse of some sort, "...Uh...Koshiro rang, he was having trouble putting the mats away at the dojo…"

Sanji glances to him sceptically, "that late at night?"

"...Yeah, well you know he's there a lot nowadays, stays late. And he's hurt his back so… "

The cook nods. He doesn't believe Zoro. He can tell when the swordsman is lying, but he lets it go as everyone deserves to keep some things to themselves, even if they are not that important. Zoro doesn't have to tell him everything.

"Right, well, I'm going to head back to work. You can go if want," Sanji says as he picks up their empty dishes.

"I'll stay for a bit. Can I have another beer?"

"You haven't even finished that one yet."

Zoro grins as he grabs the bottle, then downs the rest in one go, the blond watching him in disgust.

"Fine, I'll be right back."

Sanji puts the dishes into the kitchen sink, and then grabs Zoro another bottle of beer, handing it to him, before heading back into the kitchen to work. He still doesn't know what came over him, and as he gets started on one of the Baratie's lunch orders, he vividly remembers running his fingers through Zoro hair. It's almost as if he can still feel the soft strands of green hair between his fingertips. The blond groans and gets back to work. _Why do I keep doing things like this? I have a boyfriend. This shit with Zoro needs to stop..._

Still at his table, Zoro is finishing his second beer. He reckons Sanji won't be back out anytime soon, so he takes his leave. Seeing the cook again since what happened last night didn't help at all. He really wants to tell Sanji about Law, but he's slightly worried about what the older man said. What if Sanji doesn't believe him? What if he does end up hating him?

Paying for his food and drinks, as he still doesn't like Zeff letting him eat there for free, he then walks out of the Baratie and heads home. As he walks towards his house, he spots Luffy sitting on his front porch step. Upon seeing Zoro, the younger boy jumps up and waves to the swordsman, with a large grin on his face as he calls out his best friend's name.

"Zoooroo~! There you are~!"

The eighteen year old tries not to smile but he always find it difficult not to when Luffy's around. Taking out his house key from his back pocket, Zoro then walks to the front door and unlocks it before walking inside and letting the other boy in.

"What are you doing here Luffy?"

"I was bored so I came over to play some video games. Your consoles are still in the living room from last time, right?"

"Yeah. The games are upstairs though. I'll go and get them," Zoro replies as he shuts the door and watches Luffy jump onto the sofa, "why didn't you ring, or text me? I would have gotten home sooner if I'd known you were waiting."

"I thought you'd be with Sanji so I didn't want to bother you. You were with Sanji, right?"

"Yeah."

"Is he okay?"

"Of course. Why wouldn't he be?"

"No reason," Luffy replies as he picks his nose, then goes over to the T.V and turns it on along with one of the game consoles.

Zoro watches him for a few seconds then heads upstairs, coming back down not long afterwards with a bunch of games for them to choose from.

"It's just, he drank a lot more than usual last night, and you left really early. Did you two have a fight or something?"

"No Luffy, we didn't."

They decide to play a racing game, so Zoro puts one of his racing games into the console. He then grabs the controllers and starts up the game. They are both choosing their cars as Luffy speaks again.

"So why did you leave early?"

Zoro ignores the question and starts the race, it's not long before Luffy is in the lead, and he himself is in a close second, racing around the track.

"Zoro?"

"It's nothing, Luffy. Just focus on the game."

They are on their second of three laps when the race is paused.

"Oi, what did you pause it for?"

"We're not finishing the game until you tell me what's going on."

"We'll leave it then. I wasn't fussed on playing anyway," the swordsman replies as he puts down his controller and gets up from the sofa.

"Zoro."

He glances towards the other to see a serious expression on Luffy's face. Zoro knows that when the younger teen gets like this, that there is no way that he'll drop his arguments easily. The only way he can get out of this is to tell Luffy what he wants to know, but would that really be such a good idea?

"If I tell you what's going on, you can't tell anyone. Got it?"

Luffy nods, waiting for his best friend to fill him in. "I promise."

"... At your party last night, I caught Law and Kid making out in the guest bedroom. Law's cheating on Sanji..."

"Eh?!"

Luffy jumps up from his seat, angry, and the game controller that he forgot about falls onto the floor.

"W-we need to tell Sanji right now! I can't believe Torao would do that….," Luffy mumbles the last sentence as he clenches his fists at his sides.

"We can't tell him, Luffy."

"Eh! Why not? He needs to know."

"It's best not to get involved…"_ I think…._

"We need to tell him. Won't it just hurt him more to find out later on?"

"I don't know…. Just promise me you won't tell the cook. Leave it to me to decide whether to tell him or not, okay?"

"... Okay, Zoro. I won't tell him, I promise. But just so you know, I think you should."

Zoro nods then grabs the controller that fell on the floor, and they continue to play their game in silence.

* * *

Sanji sighs after a long day working at the Baratie. The restaurant had been packed all day and he'd been rushed off his feet, cooking, serving, and attending to the bar. Luckily, as things started to slow down, Zeff had asked if he wanted to leave work early and so Sanji jumped at the chance. After changing out of his chef whites, he'd grabbed his things and now he's heading out of the back door.

The blond is surprised to see Zoro out back waiting for him.

"Marimo? What are you doing here?"

"I got bored at home. Zeff texted at lunch saying that he was letting you off work early tonight, so…."

"Aww~ the moss ball came to walk me home~," Sanji teases, grinning as Zoro's cheeks flush.

"S-shut up, shit-cook. I did no such thing."

"Yeah? Then what are you doing here then~?

"I-I just went for a walk and ended up around here…."

Sanji chuckles at the marimo, smiling as they head out onto the main streets. They start making their way home and it's not long until he and Zoro are both in his bedroom, making small talk about their current upcoming assignments for school. He watches the swordsman's lips as the other talks and leans back against the bedroom wall. Before he can comprehend it, Sanji has gotten up from his bed and has closed the distance between them in an instant. Zoro glances to him questioningly, and his eyes widen when Sanji pins him to the wall and kisses him roughly.

The cook shoves his tongue into the swordsman's mouth and deepens the kiss as his hands roam Zoro's body, sliding up his shirt and feeling the muscles underneath. He feels the other relax against him and he's shocked, but pleasantly surprised, when Zoro turns the tables and he's now the one who is pinned against the wall.

Zoro's hand hastily unbuckles the blond's belt, and Sanji moans into the kiss when the swordsman presses his body up against him more, slowly grinding their clothed erections together.

Sanji hums in the back of his throat as the kiss is broken and he feels teeth lightly scrape the exposed skin of his neck.

"Mmm~ Zoro~... Zoro~."

He startles awake, his face hitting the table at full force.

"Shit!"

Sanji is shushed from somewhere and he warily takes in his surroundings. Unfortunately for the cook, he'd fallen asleep in the school library at one of the tables near the back while studying for his upcoming maths exam. He groans quietly and rests his head on his arms which are folded across the table and his maths book. _What the hell….? I'm getting hard and falling asleep in the library…. Shitty marimo, this is all his fault….._

* * *

The following weekend, on Sanji's day off, Zoro gets roped into helping Sanji and Law rearrange the furniture in Law's apartment, for what, Zoro doesn't know, and he doesn't exactly want to know either. It's always been difficult for the swordsman to be around the other two, especially when it's just the three of them, but since he caught Law with Kid at the D brother's party, he can't stand it even more. He's angry at the older man, and it makes his blood boil whenever Law so much as touches Sanji. It's not just the anger he feels, and it just seems at times like this, that the world is rubbing it in his face that the person he loves is with someone else.

Today just isn't Zoro's day, as once they get into the lift, on its way up, it stops with a loud screech, and Sanji almost falls face first into the swordsman's crotch as the lift shakes. The blond grabs onto Zoro's pants, almost pulling them down, as he loses his balance, and the only reason Sanji's face isn't currently in the swordsman's crotch right now is because of Zoro's quick reflexes, grabbing the cook by his elbows to stop him from colliding with the floor.

"Shit, sorry marimo. What the hell is going on?"

"The lift has stopped."

"I know that, you idiot!" Sanji snaps, "I mean, why has it stopped?!"

"The lifts have been faulty lately. They were supposed to have been fixed. Obviously that's not the case."

They turn their attention to Law as he explains, and the cook pushes away from Zoro once he's steadily back on his feet. The situation only gets worse when the lights cut out and the emergency button in the lift stops working. Not only are they stuck in a lift and have no mobile signal, they can't even contact anyone for help. All they can do now is wait and hope that someone notices that the lift is not working.

Out of all the people in the world it had to have been these two he got stuck in a lift with. Sanji he didn't mind, but adding Law into the mix was definitely not ideal. Not that he even wanted to be stuck in a lift in the first place…

"This is just great. It's not like we're busy or anything," Sanji rants to himself.

The blond groans as he paces around, already uneasy with the current situation at hand. This is one of the top three things he never wanted to happen. Although he supposes it could be worse. He could be trapped in this lift with a spider. A shudder runs through him at the thought and he frantically looks around, shining the light on his phone to make sure that there actually aren't any unwanted guests that have joined them.

"Stop pacing, shit-cook. With your weight going back and fore the wires will probably snap."

No, forget that, _this_ is the worst thing that could happen to him in this situation, being stuck in a lift with an overgrown moss. He would rather take this on with a spider any day.

"Shut up, you shitty swordsman, this is your fault!"

"How is it my fault?!"

"Obviously it's your extra weight, the lift couldn't handle it!"

"Sanji."

The way his name is said in a tenor deep and slightly husky voice sends shivers down his spine, but for a completely different reason than before. Law's arms snake around his waist as the older man comes up from behind him and he relaxes instantly.

"Don't waste your breath on him."

He hears Zoro scoff from somewhere in front of him, but he ignores the swordsman and listens to Law as the man whispers into his ear.

"He's not worth it."

He instantly closes his eyes at the feel of a pair of lips placing kisses on his neck.

"Let's make the most out of this situation. Haven't you always said that you'd love to have sex in lift?"

Sanji's eyes snap open as his cheeks warm up, Law's lips lingering on the skin of his neck, "yeah…," he whispers back, "but we can't…"

"Why not~? We're stuck in a lift. Who knows how long it'll be until help arrives."

_That's a fair point…. But Zoro's right there…. _It's bad enough that they're in this lift with someone else, but for that person to be another guy, who isn't his boyfriend, but who has been the star of most of his wet dreams recently, and who is his best friend… it isn't a good idea… even if they can't see a thing….

"And it's dark~."

Law's hands delve into his pants, and he bites his lip, trying to make as little noise as possible as the older man's fingers wrap around him.

"There's not a single reason not to~."

"Just because it's dark and I can't see, it doesn't mean that I can't hear you. I'm not fucking deaf," Zoro growls snapping the blond out of his daze.

Sanji grabs Law's wrists and he pulls away from his boyfriend, clearing his throat as he goes to sit in the back right corner of the lift and fixes himself up.

The swordsman can feel Law's sharp glare directed his way but he pays it no mind as he leans back and closes his eyes. _That bastard, it's bad enough to be stuck in here with them, but for him to go and try to pull that shit in front of me, knowing what he knows… It pisses me off._

At some point, the swordsman dozes off, with the same thoughts repeatedly swirling through his mind, until they eventually get help and out of the lift.

Should he tell Sanji about Law's affair, or should he leave it for the cook to figure out for himself?


	7. The Storm

**Chapter 7 - The Storm**

"Zoro~! Sanji~!"

They hear their names being called as they walk out of the school gates, and as they turn around they have no time to prepare for another one of Luffy's hugs which causes them all to topple to the ground.

"Luffy," Sanji groans, "how many times do i have to tell you to stop doing this?"

"Shishishishi~ But it's fun~. Don't you like my hugs?" the younger boy asks with a pout.

Somehow, during the fall, the blond must have turned towards Zoro, as his arm is across the swordsman's waist, and their legs are tangled together. Sanji notices and quickly gets up and away from Zoro once Luffy has gotten off of them so that they can move, and the cook rolls his eyes at the younger boy.

"No. You always use too much force and send us flying."

Luffy simply laughs and wraps his arms around them both as they walk away from the school, "guys~ let's walk home together~."

"Do we even have a choice in this?" Zoro asks.

"Shishishishi~ of course not~. We haven't walked home together in ages~."

"We walked home together yesterday," Sanji chuckles, "and here; I know what you're really here for."

The blond removes his backpack as they walk, and takes out a lunch box filled with chocolate chip cookies. He then puts his bag back on his back, and takes out two cookies, giving one to Zoro, before handing the box with the rest of them in, to Luffy.

"Yaay~ thank you~. I love Wednesdays~."

"That's only because I have practical in food tech, and you get to eat what I make."

Luffy laughs and scoffs down the cookies as they walk home.

"Hey Zoro, have you told him yet?" Luffy asks too loudly to be subtle.

"Told me what?"

"Nothing, cook. Just keep walking."

Sanji frowns and stops in his tracks, "what's going on? What aren't you telling me? Luffy?"

"U-uh… I don't what you mean…"

"You asked Zoro if he's told me yet, so you must know."

The swordsman groans as he and Luffy are forced to stop walking. _That idiot…. Why did he have to ask me that now?_

The blond taps his foot impatiently, and Zoro is unsurprised when Luffy sprints off ahead, claiming that his brother, Ace, is waiting for him and that he can't be late home. Sanji glares at Zoro and grabs his wrist, dragging him home. They enter into the cook's house and he's pulled into Sanji's bedroom, the grip on his wrist tightening, only letting go when the bedroom door is shut.

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"I don't have time for this, you shitty swordsman, so tell what is going on. What do you know?"

"It's nothing."

"Like hell it is! I know when you're lying to me. Does this have to do with the reason you left Luffy's party early the other week?"

Zoro glances away as the cook glares at him, waiting for his answer. He knows now that he can't get away without telling Sanji the truth.

"Fine. I'll tell you. But you're not going to like it…."

"I don't like your face but there's nothing I can do about that."

Zoro rolls his eyes, "okay, well…. Law's cheating on you…"

"W-What?!"

"At the party, I caught them upstairs, making out with each other."

Sanji's eyes widen and he shakes with rage at this information.

"I'm sorry cook. I can tell you're angry at him, who wouldn't be? But just think about. You're better off without that cheating bastard anyway."

"I'm not angry at him," Sanji growls, "I'm angry at you! I should have seen this coming. We all know you hate him, but to say that he's cheating, just to split us up? That's low, even for you."

"Oi! I'm not making this up. I saw them! Yeah I hate him, but I wouldn't say all this just to upset you."

"Upset? I'm not upset! I'm fucking pissed off!"

"I'm not the one you should be getting angry at here!"

"...You're lying! He wouldn't do that to me!"

"Everyone knows Law's past relationships failed because he was cheating on them with Kid! You know that!"

"He's changed!"

"Hah, you're delusional, shit-cook!"

"Yeah?! Well I'm not the one who caused my sister's death! It was 10 years ago marimo! Get the fuck over it!"

Zoro's eyes widen at the words, and he clenches his fists to his sides, "You fucking bastard, I hate you! I wish I'd never met you!"

With that, the fight comes to comes to an end, and the swordsman rushes out of the house, stomping his way next door to his own, both of them leaving it with words they wished they'd never said.

* * *

A few weeks later after their fight, they still haven't spoken to each other, and Sanji is making his way to Law's apartment during his lunch break to surprise his boyfriend with some lunch. This is one of the first days off from work that Law has had in a while, and Sanji wants them to have their lunch together. The blond is still pissed off about what Zoro said about his boyfriend. He knows that they both said things that they regret, especially himself. He should have never have said what he did about Kuina's death. He knows that it wasn't Zoro's fault. He'd just gotten so angry that those words had fallen out of his mouth before he could stop them. He wasn't thinking straight. With that being said, he is in no way going to be the first one to apologise. Yeah, he'll admit that he said went way over the line, but Zoro had said some pretty hurtful things back, and he is not going to apologise until Zoro admits that what he said to him about Law is not true.

Although he and Zoro are not on good terms, he's still been having wet dreams about the swordsman. His feelings for his best friend, well, currently ex best friend, have become so much more confusing since their fight, and he has become more paranoid about what Law has been up to. Though he knows it's not true as Law gas just been busy with work a lot more recently, that's it. And so, that's why he is now at Law's apartment. It will be their first time hanging out probably since that time they'd gotten stuck in a lift before rearranging the furniture in Law's apartment.

Opening the door, Sanji steps into Law's living room and calls out to his boyfriend as he shuts the door behind him. He frowns when he gets no answer, and proceeds to place the lunch he's brought with him, onto the kitchen counter. After calling out once more, he hears a muffled noise coming from the bedroom so he makes his way down the hallway and towards Law's bedroom door. Another noise, and this time he can tell that what he is hearing are muffled moans. His pulse picks up, and his heart pounds as he reaches for the door handle. The moans have gotten louder, and he can hear the creaks from the bed moving in a steady rhythm. That can't be what he thinks it is, right? There's just no way…..

His eyes widen when he opens the door to see another man on top of his boyfriend. And not just any man. That man is Kid. The two quickly pull away from each other when they finally realise he's there.

"Shit…. Sanji, I…. It's not what it looks like…"

"Hah, seriously? What else could it have fucking been? Don't treat like some dumb kid," Sanji growls as he makes his way into the room and in front of Law, "You're both naked and in your bed. What innocent explanation can there can be? You fucking piece of shit!"

The blond kicks Law harshly, causing the older the man to fall to the ground as he was unprepared for the attack.

"I should have fucking known. No…. I should have believed the stupid moss ball when he told me. But I thought he was just trying to split us up because he hated you. I trusted you… And you…," Sanji growls, turning his anger towards Kid who's still standing there in his naked glory, not showing any kind of remorse or regret for his actions, "…if you fucking wanted him you should have just got with him instead of messing up other people's relationships! You two are welcome to each other."

Sanji turns to leave, but is stopped by a strong grip on his wrist, "Sanji, don't go. I don't want him, I want you."

"Then you should have thought of that before you fucking slept with him. You're the one in denial here. Not me. Not anymore…. Enjoy your lunch."

Law finally lets go of him and he quickly leaves the apartment. He can't believe he's been so stupid. He feels more anger than hurt. And he realises now that he was never really in love with Law, he just wanted to feel loved, and that the older man was just the next one who came along. And Law definitely didn't love him, being able to do what he did. Realising this doesn't make him feel any better. In fact, it just makes him feel worse. Sanji feels that all of his past relationships failed because of himself. He'd either give too much, or too little. _Maybe I really am unlovable...There's no fucking way I can face that marimo after this... especially after what I said to him…._

* * *

With one week left until the kendo tournament, Zoro has been skipping out of some of his school lessons in order to train. Luckily Koshiro had managed to convince the school headmaster to allow him to have a few afternoons off during the school week for this very reason. Zoro has also been allowed an authorised absence for the two days that the tournament is being held. The city that the tournament is being held at is around six hours away, so the plan is to leave early morning on the first day in order to make it there on time. A hotel has been booked for the first night only, as after the second day, Zoro will need to get back home so that he can attend school the following day. Unfortunately he couldn't get three days off unless he attended all of his lessons this week.

Zoro's friends aren't allowed to miss school as they are not the ones who will be competing in the tournament. However, he knows that Luffy is planning on going anyway, and trying to convince the others to go too. Robin, Franky and Brook, obviously can't go as they will be teaching, and the only other person who definitely can't go because of his cooking exam, is Sanji….

Back at the D brothers' party, the cook had said that he would try to make it for the second day of the tournament, but Zoro doubts that it will happen now. Not because he won't make it through to the second day, but because of the fight that they had. He knew it would have been a bad idea to tell Sanji, even if it was the right thing to do, but he didn't expect things to get so out of hand.

Zoro switches from doing push ups, to using his training weights, but his vigorous training isn't progressing as planned since Sanji's hurtful words are buzzing angrily inside the swordsman's head like a swarm of wasps. _I can't believe he said that! I was only doing the right thing by telling him Law was fucking cheating on him…. And what he said about Kuina…..Her death was my fault, but he didn't have to bring it up again… Whatever, he's a moron anyway...but I'm still in love with that idiot cook..._

Nothing is calming Zoro's thoughts, not even training, but the swordsman knows he has nothing to apologize for, except for saying he'd wished that he and the blonde had never met, because that was not true at all.

The swordsman stops what he's doing to take a breather. _I have to pull myself together. I can't let the cook get in the way of my training. Hawk eyes is rumoured to be at the tournament next week, and I need to be ready._


	8. Three Tiers For Sweet Revenge

**Chapter 8 - Three Tiers For Sweet Revenge**

Sanji's practical cooking exam is in a week's time, and unfortunately, he still hasn't completely decided on the dishes that he is going to make. The cook has three dishes down; it is just his final one which he is stuck on. As per the rules, Sanji has decided on one dessert. He is going to make blackcurrant jelly during his exam as it is quick and simple to make, as well as showing a range of skills which his teacher will be looking out for. His other dishes are all planned out. He just needs this last one. Sanji wants to make one other dessert. He wants it to be the one which will stand out among the others, and he wants to design it himself. The blond is lucky that his teacher has allowed for him to still be working on what to cook during his exam, as the students were supposed to turn in their completed list of dishes a few weeks ago, as well as a step by step plan that they were to come up with, on how they are going to make all of their dishes within the allotted time given.

Sanji is trying his best to come up with a fourth dish, but he has seemed to hit a brick wall. Everything which has happened in his life recently hasn't helped at all, and he's been feeling more useless, and that there is no point in even trying as he's going to fail anyway. This is a completely different perspective to the one he had before. Before his fight with Zoro, before he caught his now ex-boyfriend with another man, Sanji was excited and looking forward to his exam. He was nervous, but he knew he'd be able to handle it; he works in the kitchen of the Baratie after all. Zeff wouldn't expect anything less than an A from Sanji with this exam.

Thinking of Zeff, his old man is going to kill him when he gets home, as the kitchen is in a mess. There's cutlery and cooking equipment littering the kitchen tops, as well as recipe books open, and a bowl of over whipped cream as Sanji lost focus of what he was doing and was daydreaming about beating Law's face in.

The blond sighs as he looks at the contents in the mixing bowl. He knows he can easily save this over whisked cream. He's done this kind of thing before, but…. _What's the point? I probably won't use it anyway… I don't even know what I made it for…._

Sanji picks up one of the recipe books that he'd left open on the counter, and proceeds to flick through it once more. After flicking through it one more time, and still nowhere nearer to figuring out what to do, he groans as he closes the book, then folds his arms around it after placing it back on the counter, and uses the book as a pillow. _I really don't know what the fuck I'm doing. Everyone has high expectations of me. I can't just make another main dish and leave my dessert as just a bowl of jelly. They'll want more. I need to do more. But I can't... Normally these things come easy to me. I made a dessert for the Baratie just a few weeks ago. But I can't use that. I need something new….._

He stays there for a while, still using the book as a pillow, and thinking of nothing and everything at once, feeling like an idiot for even trying. Yeah, maybe he's overreacting. He's only just lost his best friend, and ending another relationship, because his partner was cheating on him. People have lost a lot more than him, have less, and are going through worse situations than him. But his feelings are real. These feelings and emotions he has aren't anything less than those who are "worse off". No matter what happens to someone, the feelings are the same. You can't disregard how much pain a person feels just because they ended a relationship, while someone else has actually lost a beloved family member or friend through an illness or disease. They would have both lost someone, even if it was through different circumstances. The pain they would feel would be the same. They will both feel empty at times. They will both carry on with their lives and see things which will remind them of someone they lost, or something they once had. They will still see an empty bed, that special mug that the other person would use, or the seat that wasn't claimed out loud but the other person would always use. And they will both feel a sense of longing to have things exactly as they were before.

This is just one example of many, and Sanji knows and understands all this, but it doesn't make him feel any better, it doesn't stop him from second guessing, and feeling like he doesn't deserve to be down or upset over the little things when someone else's world could have just been turned upside down. He still has his family, his job, his cosy life, his friend's, and if he really tried, he could still patch things up with Zoro. _But I don't deserve it… I don't deserve him… _

Jumping from one thing to another, Sanji gets lost in his thoughts about Zoro. To Sanji, the green haired swordsman can either be easy or difficult to read. It can sometimes be hard to tell whether or not Zoro means what he says or if he is messing around with him, apart from the times in which he is deadly serious as you _will_ know without a doubt when he is like that. It would be hard to miss. It's the same when he fights or spars with Zoro. He can easily read Zoro's movements in a fight, and know how to reciprocate, but other times, the swordsman can be unpredictable, especially when he's too wound up, distracted… or idiotic.

They're quite similar in a way. They are both strong, but in different areas, though Zoro is still just ahead of him in strength. He feels as if he has a lot of catching up to do and he would like it if Zoro would acknowledge his strength as well as his cooking. They say actions are stronger than words, but what if when someone shows how they feel through actions, it is just an act, or you're just seeing exactly what you want to see. For Sanji, he's needs the words, they confirm the actions, they confirm or disconfirm what he thinks he sees in others. That's why Zoro is so difficult. The swordsman doesn't often show his emotions. His body language is mostly neutral. He always seems calm unless in an argument with Sanji. Zoro can be quite blunt in certain situations, but when his emotions are involved he can shut down and not say a word.

Sanji reckons there are three main sides to Zoro. His easily aggravated side and he can be hot-headed, especially when it comes to Sanji. The cook can always wind him up with just simple gestures or words. Another side to the swordsman is his calm and collected side. Zoro can put up a very calm front most of the time. Seeming indifferent at times, and can be very collected during serious fights, not wavering unless his opponent tries to pick at him mentally, which can be difficult to achieve. Zoro won't let them break him that easily.

And then there are the cracks. The small split seconds that can cause the swordsman's walls to come crumbling down, though not for very long. These cracks reveal his soft and caring side, though the cook never used to take the time to notice it, until he developed more complicated feelings towards the swordsman, and started paying more attention to it. When it comes to Chopper and their other friends, sometimes even children and animals, Zoro is surprisingly soft. The green-haired man is usually stoic and reserved when it comes to communicating, but he can occasionally become lively when Luffy is around. It's nice to see him smile, and that smile usually brightens Sanji's day.

_I have to apologize to him..._

Sanji used to think that it was only Luffy and Chopper that Zoro could be kind and gentle around. That was until a few months ago that Sanji saw the swordsman around children, which got him to realise when Zoro was showing his soft side to him, but in a different way. Seeing Zoro with the children truly opened his eyes.

* * *

**A few months ago, not long after Christmas:**

Zoro sighs as he turns up in front of a relatively large building. The outside walls are painted bright blue and yellow, and there is a large sign above the front door which reads: Happy Smiles Day-care. This is something that he really does not want to do, but he has no choice, as he is here on his week's work experience. As part of being in his school's sixth form, he, among the rest of the students in his year, are out of school and doing work experience for the whole week, where they choose a place of their choice, within those who accept school students, and work there to gain experience and to see if the area of interest is the right job for them. Unfortunately for Zoro, he forgot about the whole thing, even with the constant reminders, and did not hand his form in on time so that the school could set him up with a place for work experience. He was supposed to select three places he would like to go for this week, and then the school would ring the businesses up and try to get him a place in one of them. None of the teachers realised until last week that Zoro did not have a place to go for work experience, and so, the only place that would allow him to work there at such short notice, and wasn't already full with other work experience students, was the Happy Smiles Day-care. Zoro had no choice but to come. He wasn't allowed to not do it all, and he's not allowed to arrange work experience for a different week because of his upcoming exams. Sanji suggested that he could work at Koshiro's dojo, as he was bound to fine with it, but Zoro did not want to be stuck working with his father for a week, and when he let the school arrange this for him, he did not know that he would end up at a day care of all places.

Sighing once more, Zoro finally opens the door to the day care and steps inside.

"Zoro, it's great to see you again. Did you find this place ok?"

The swordsman's eyes widen when he sees his old reception teacher, Makino, who he hasn't seen since primary school, "Makino? Y-yeah I did..."

Smiling, she gives him a brief hug, "I'm so glad you remember me. I've seen you in passing but never had the time to stop and see how you were."

"It's great to see you again. So, you work here now?"

"I don't just work here, I own this place."

"You do?" Zoro grins.

"Yeah. I quit teaching in the school a few years ago and starting working on running my own day care. I've had this place for just over a year now."

"That's great."

Zoro smiles and looks around. The day care is bright; the walls painted a pale yellow with different colours of the rainbow serving as the wall borders, and with several displays of the children's work taped to the walls. There are a few toys out and a large teddy bear sitting up against the wall in the far right corner. A few sets of drawers are filled with even more toys, and drawing utensils, and to the right from the front door is a medium sized low table and chairs for the children to have their meals and snacks on.

"So how's Sanji doing? Is he well?"

"Uh, yeah, he's doing well..."

Makino nods and smiles, "the children will be here soon, I'll introduce you to the staff in a minute, just a few quick things. You'll be working upstairs with the 3 - 4 year olds for the first half of the week with whomever else is scheduled to be up there at the time, and for the last half you'll be down here with me. I know you've recently turned 18 but we are not allowed to leave a work experience student on their own with the children so you'll have at least one other member of staff with you at all times when you're around the children. We'll show you around more as we go on and you'll learn the schedule too. Do you have any questions?"

"...No. I'm good."

"Right. What time do you finish on normal school days?"

"At twenty past three."

"Okay, you're more than welcome to leave here at that time each day, though it's no problem if you'd like to stay a bit longer at the end the day. Ah, one more thing, Zoro. At lunch time, you can eat in the staff room, if you wish. We have a microwave in there as well as a fridge, so if you'd like to bring in your own lunch for the rest of the week, you can. Just make sure you label what is yours. Everyone else labels the food that they bring in for themselves. There should be a few things in there for everyone though, and they won't be labelled. If you'd prefer, you can also go out for your lunch. You don't have to stay here. There are plenty of shops which are not that far away from here."

Zoro nods then follows Makino as she takes him into the staff room to greet the others. Today, Mimi will be watching over him and settling him in. Mimi is a young woman, in her early twenties, with short blonde hair and green eyes. As with the other staff members, she is wearing the day care's uniform which is a pair of black trousers and a light blue polo shirt with the day care's logo on. Joining them today in looking after the children who will be upstairs is Josh. Josh has medium length, light brown hair, and brown eyes. He is round the same age as Mimi. It's not long until the parents and/or guardians of the children who attend Happy Smiles Day care turn up and drop their children off. For an hour and a half, all of the children stay downstairs to play, until Mimi and Josh lead the 3 - 4 year olds upstairs, followed by Zoro. The room is similar to downstairs, the same colours and the same sets of furniture, though there are more bigger toys for the children to play with, and the upstairs is larger as the staff room and kitchen are downstairs, thus, extra rooms where not needed upstairs which would have ended up making the play area smaller.

In the centre of the room is a large carpeted area set up for storytelling with wooden shelves full of books, accompanied by plush seats designed in different shapes and shapes and different colours for the children to sit on. To the far left are tables and chairs which are close to shelving units displaying clear plastic boxes filled with paints, paper, pens, pencils, and other art supplies. Stuck on the front of the shelving unit is a laminated sign spelling out "Messy Area". The other areas of the room have similar signs, stating which one is which, including the carpeted area in the middle of the room, labelled, "Storytelling Village". On the far right is the "Imaginative Play" area which has a dressing up box, a mini toy kitchen, and small play house. In the front left, is the "Toy Area" where most of the toys are stored, including a dolls house, mini plastic dinosaurs and small toy cars with a large plastic toy garage set, plastic tea sets, puzzle games and jigsaws, and much more. This area has a large road map play mat laid out on the floor. The last area is at the right side of the room, in the front, and is labelled the "Dancing Station". The carpet here has numbers printed on them inside different coloured drawn outlines of hands and footprints. The space is cleared, apart from the rolling shelving unit with a small box T.V and a silver stereo displayed on it in the corner of the room.

Josh and Mimi get the children to take off their coats and shoes, and place them into the walk in cloakroom, along with any bags they brought with them, before getting them settled on the carpet in the in the middle of the room. The two staff members have taken off their shoes as well, so Zoro quickly takes off his boots and puts them into the cloak room too, before joining the others back in the middle of the room.

Josh smiles as he introduces the children to Zoro, "Okay everyone, this is Zoro. He's going to be helping us this week. Now, what do we say?"

The children grin up at him as they say good morning to the swordsman, Zoro embarrassingly mumbling the words back. He's then told to sit with them on the carpet for now, as they go about their morning routine of greeting each other as well as singing nursery rhymes and going through the numbers and the alphabet. The children seem to gravitate towards Zoro, two young girls scrambling onto the swordsman's lap, while a third tries to sit on him too, and a few of the other boys and girls sit around him, one boy smiling up at him as he manages to get Zoro to hold his hand while the rest of them sing. He doesn't understand why the children like him. _I'm scary looking, right…? Well, that's what other people tell me. But then again, I don't think I've been called scary by a child before…._

Once the morning routine is over, a few of the boys and girls try and get Zoro to play with them, but are disappointed when Mimi interrupts and shows Zoro around the upstairs level of the day care instead. Mimi takes him to the different areas of the room, explaining what each area is for, then shows him the doors to the children's bathroom and walk in cloak room, before showing him the second exit to another flight of stairs which leads out to the back garden, and not to the main area downstairs, so that the staff and children don't disturb the ones who play downstairs, while they make their way outside during break times.

"Ok Zoro, that's everything," Mimi smiles, "If you need to go to the bathroom yourself, you'll have to go downstairs. We only have the one set of staff bathrooms, and they are downstairs next to the staff room and Makino's office. Obviously you don't need to ask to go, but it would be best to let us know when you do, so that we know where you are. All you need to do now is watch over the children and join in with them. Josh will be setting up the messy area soon. This morning, the children will be finger painting. Once the paintings have dried we will put them on the empty wall display by the back window. You can help us do that later."

"Ok, so… I just play with the toys with them, right?"

"Uh huh. It's that simple~. They'll have snack time at eleven. You can help hand out their snacks then. After that, they have outside play for an hour. Their dinner will be at half twelve before their second playtime outside, and then their last snack time will be at three. Throughout the day, Josh and I will be setting up different activities. You're more than welcome to join in with them. The day care is open till five, though the children usually come and go throughout the day as some only stay till lunch time, while others only just come in at that time. Those who stay till the end of the day are picked up by half four. The last half hour or so is for us staff to finish cleaning up afterwards. I'm sure Makino has already told you that you can leave at the time you normally leave for school, right?"

"Yeah, she did."

"That's great, just one last thing. When do you normally have lunch at school?"

"Uh… around half one."

"You can take your lunch as normal then, though we don't mind if you have your lunch earlier. Just let one of us, and Makino know."

"Right, thank you Mimi."

Mimi smiles, then goes over to the imaginative play area as she's called over by a few of the children, leaving Zoro to stand there and nervously rub the back of his neck. The swordsman feels way out of his depth here. He's never looked after children before. He's got on well with a few who his father teaches at the Dojo, but they are much older than the ones here.

"Zoro~."

The swordsman glances down when his trouser leg is pulled lightly. Standing in front of him is a small girl with bright green eyes, brown hair in pigtails, and is wearing a white dress with a flower pattern on, white tights, and a light blue denim jacket.

"Uh, hi?" Zoro says as he crouches down to the little girl's level.

"Come paint with me."

"Okay. But first, what's your name?"

"My name's Jemma, and I'm four," the girl says as she smiles up at him, "now come paint with me."

Jemma grabs his hand and tugs on it, so he gets up from crouching on the floor and lets her take him over to the messy area where Josh has already set out the paints and a few of the other children have already sat down at the table and started painting. The four year old sits on the chair at the end of the table, so Zoro kneels down on the floor beside her, and grabs the different coloured pots of paints when she asks for them. He smiles at Jemma's humming while she joins in with the finger painting, and notices that she's humming the nursery rhyme, twinkle twinkle little star.

The swordsman talks to the other children and helps them as they paint, until he feels something wet on his cheek and hears Jemma laughing from beside him.

"It's the same colour as your hair~, Green~."

"Oi, you're supposed to paint on the paper, not on me."

Jemma laughs again and smears more green paint on Zoro's cheek. The swordsman tries to stay annoyed but finds himself laughing with the little girl.

"Right, that's it. I'm painting you too."

Jemma squeals and jumps up from her seat, giggling as she hides behind Josh, not noticing one of the boys sneak up to her until he puts some pink paint onto her cheek."

"I got her for you, Zoro~."

"Toby! That's not fair!"

Josh laughs at the two then brings them into the bathroom to help them clean themselves up, Zoro following so he can wash the green paint off of his own face.

After the finger painting is done, and the mess is cleared away, it's not long until snack time has come and gone, and the children are getting ready to go out and play. Zoro crouches down as he helps Toby zip up his coat, smiling as the boy rushes over to the door happily. As he's distracted, still crouched down on the floor, he doesn't when Jemma comes up to him, so is slightly startled when she pinches his cheeks to get his attention, Zoro looks down at the shoes that have been put into his hands, then looks back up at the little girl who smiles brightly to him. He studies the shoes once more, and then puts them on for her, fastening the velcro tight enough so that they don't fall off her feet.

"Thank you Zoro~," Jemma quickly hugs him around the neck then rushes off to join the other children as they line up at the door to the stairs.

Zoro smiles slightly as he gets up from crouching on the floor and watches the children as they form a line.

"Jemma," Mimi says as she walks over to the little girl, "your shoes are on the wrong feet."

_Shit… please don't tell her it was me…_

"Zoro put them on for me," Jemma giggles.

"Zoro?"

"Ah, uh…," the swordsman stumbles with his words as his face turns red, "I didn't realise… I thought the velcro was supposed to point inwards…"

"It's fine. Don't worry about it. Just make sure you put their shoes on the right feet next time. It would be troublesome if they fall over when running around because their shoes are on the wrong feet," Mimi smiles and swaps the shoes around on Jemma's feet before getting the children ready and leading the line downstairs and into the playground.

The swordsman sighs, annoyed at himself for messing up, and then quickly follows after them.

Zoro's days at the day care pass by quickly, and before lunch time on Wednesday, he's told to go downstairs as he will be helping out Makino with the younger children for the rest of the week. And so, he goes downstairs and joins Makino as she plays with the plastic farm animals with the two year olds. One of the staff members with her today is Kirsty, a young woman with tied back medium length black hair, dark skin, and brown eyes, who is entertaining one of the babies in the baby bouncer by pulling faces and making them laugh.

At the end of lunch, Kirsty takes the two year olds outside to join the children from upstairs, while Zoro cleans the table they had eaten off of, and Makino puts some of the younger ones into another room for their nap.

Once Zoro has finished cleaning, and put the plastic tablecloth away, Makino comes over to him with one of the babies who is crying, and is the last one left to have their nap.

"Ok Zoro, it's just Dylan left. The others are already napping. Here," Makino smiles and gently hands Dylan, who is crying hysterically, over to Zoro, before giving him a bottle full of warm milk, "he's only crying because he's hungry. I'm sure you can handle him. I need to go and make a few a calls. Just feed Dylan, and then put him down in the cloud room to nap. You can join the others outside then if you like, or go for an early lunch."

"The cloud room?"

"It's the room where the younger ones take their naps, the one with the light blue door. Please be quiet when you go in as the others are already sleeping. I'll be in my office if you need me," Makino smiles and goes to her office, leaving Zoro there with the crying baby.

The swordsman is at a loss for what to do. Makino has told him what his is supposed to do, but he's not sure how to. Holding Dylan with one arm, he then quickly spins the bottle of milk, as if it were a sword, then gently sticks it into the baby's mouth, sighing with relief when Dylan stops crying and drinks his milk. Once the drink has been finished, Dylan yawns, and Zoro places the bottle aside as he glances around the room, trying to remember which door leads to the cloud room. _Which door was it again….? Makino said it was…. red…. right? But there aren't any red doors…._

Picking a random door, Zoro opens it to find the storage room instead. At one point, he somehow ends up upstairs, but thankfully no one is there to question him and make fun of him for it, as everyone is still outside. Going back downstairs, Zoro eventually finds the cloud room, and quietly makes his way inside. Dylan has already fallen asleep in his arms, so he has no trouble settling him down into one of the empty cribs, and tucking him in before heading back to the main room, just as Makino pops around to check on him.

"Did you get Dylan settled okay?"

"Yeah, he was the easy part."

Makino doesn't question him on that, and instead of going for the early lunch he was offered, Zoro decides to go and join the other children outside.

Around the back of the day care is a fenced in playground which is big enough for the children to run around and play with the outside toys, such as: four wheeled bikes and toy cars which they can sit in and use their legs and feet to move them around the area, colourful skipping ropes and hula hoops, a wooden playhouse, and much more. The playground also has a few games that have been painted onto the gravel, including hopscotch.

At the front door of the day care, is Sanji, carrying a full tupperware box. He is about to go inside, but then he hears the children playing around the back, so he goes to have a look in case Zoro is out there too. Sanji has been having his work experience at the Baratie. Obviously it's not much different to when he works there, but as it was allowed, he decided to stick with the restaurant, and Zeff being as strict as he is, is following the rules and not paying him for working at the Baratie this week, much to Sanji's dismay. The restaurant had been extremely busy these past few days, and Sanji was unable to get away, which meant that he couldn't bring Zoro his lunch like he would do in school. Though, thankfully, he had enough time today to come down to the day care and bring Zoro his lunch. He knows that the swordsman was going to get his own lunch this week, but he couldn't pass up the opportunity to see how much Zoro would be struggling with working at the day care. He doubts that the marimo would be good with children, and would just be arguing with them the whole time, and getting into trouble for it. He's been looking forward to this all week.

As Sanji makes his way around the back and stops at the fence, his eyes widen at what he sees. Zoro, the tough and never to be messed with swordsman, is outside laughing and smiling with the children. But what is more shocking is that a few of the boys and girls have gotten Zoro to play hopscotch with them. The blond chuckles quietly at the display, and as much as he would love to ruin Zoro's day, he knows that the swordsman wouldn't want anyone to see him like this, especially him, so he spares him the humiliation and quickly heads around to the front of the building before the marimo can spot him. Sanji then heads inside, as he was going to in the first place, and is happily surprised to see Makino, who is cleaning away some of the toys.

"Ah~ Makino~, it's such a pleasure to see your radiant beauty again~. Apologies my dear, but I had forgotten that you own this place."

Makino giggles and smiles as she hugs Sanji, causing him to swoon over her even more, "It's been awhile since I've seen you, Sanji. Maybe a few months now, how are things?"

"Everything is perfect now that I've seen you~."

"Of course. So what are you doing here?"

"I came to bring Zoro his lunch."

"Aw that's very kind of you. I'm sure he'll appreciate it. Zoro is out the back, playing with the children. Would you like to go and take it to him?"

"I'd best not, I need to get back to the Baratie."

"You're working there for your work experience? Didn't you want to take this chance to do something else?"

"No. I'm happily fine where I am."

"Ah, that's ok then. Shall I take this for you?"

"Yes please, Makino~, my dear~," Sanji swoons as he hands over Zoro's lunch, "make sure that the idiot eats it all~."

"I will~. I'm so glad Zoro ended up coming here this week. I've always been able to catch up with you, but I've never had the chance to talk to Zoro since you two left primary school. He's grown up quite well hasn't he? He has a great physique."

"Yeah, he has…."

The blond blushes lightly when Makino smiles to him, with a little bit of mischief shining in her eyes.

"I-I….. I better go, see you soon Makino~."

"Bye Sanji," she replies, giggling.

Ten minutes later, Zoro comes back in with Kirsty and the children. The two and one year olds instantly start playing with the toys as soon as they have taken off their shoes and coats, with help from Zoro and Kirsty.

"Zoro, Sanji came by with this for you."

The swordsman's eyes widen at the cook's name, and he quickly rushes over to Makino, taking the lunch from her, "he did? He didn't see me, did he?"

"No, but it's sweet that he came over to bring you lunch. Does he normally do this for you?"

"Wow, it looks very neat. That Sanji must have taken great care to put that together for you. Is he your boyfriend?" Kirsty asks as she sneaks a peek at Zoro's lunch, causing him to blush at her words.

"O-Of course not….. He's just an idiot cook who goes to school with me."

"Ah but Zoro~ you're much closer than that~. He and Sanji grew up together, I used to teach them in primary school," Makino smiles as she explains to Kirsty.

"And you're still friends? That's sooo sweet~."

"Aw, I still remember the times when Zoro would get jealous because Sanji wouldn't play with him and would play with the girls in their class instead. He used to get quite upset~."

"Awww~."

"M-Makino?!"

"I'm just teasing you~. Though that did really happen a lot~."

"I-I'm going for my lunch...!" Zoro stomps off to the staff room embarrassed, still able to hear Makino and Kirsty's giggles from behind him.

Later on that day, not long after snack time, one of the children's parents turn up, and Zoro is asked to go upstairs to get them. Mimi is on shift upstairs again today, and she greets Zoro with a smile.

"Hey Zoro, did you need anything?"

"Sophie's dad is here to pick her up."

Mimi nods and smiles as she calls the small blonde girl over, then Zoro helps her put on her coat and shoes, before holding her hand as he leads her to the staircase.

"Ah, Zoro, wait! That's the stairs to the playground!"

Sophie giggles as she takes him to the right staircase, and Zoro grumbles as he hopes that he won't make any more embarrassing mistakes this week.

* * *

**Back to the present:**

Sanji smiles slightly when he remembers seeing Zoro working at the day care. He hasn't seen Makino since then. _I should go and see her sometime soon…. She probably doesn't need me bothering her though…._

Looking back at the mess he's made in the kitchen, he frowns. _Ugh! I've had enough! I can't come up with another dessert! Even if I could, it wouldn't matter, as I'm going to end up failing the exam anyway! There's no point in even trying!_

Glaring at his bowl of over whipped cream Sanji stomps around the kitchen, intending to leave. However, he trips over the stool by the breakfast bar, causing it to knock over some of the things off of the counter and onto the floor, along with him. Groaning, the blond sits up and rubs his lower back.

"Shit, now there's even more mess. My old man is going to kill me…"

Getting back onto his feet, Sanji then starts picking up the things which fell onto the floor, including the recipe book which landed open, facing downwards. Picking up the recipe book, he keeps the pages as they were when they fell, and turns it over, about to flatten out the pages before closing it. The blond's eyes widen when he sees what is on the page. A picture of a three tiered dessert reminds him of his thoughts about Zoro having three main sides to his personality, and fuels his imagination.

"This is it! I have an idea!"

Sanji grins as ideas for dessert designs float around in his head, and he quickly gets to work on practicing the dessert for his upcoming exam.


	9. Oath

**Chapter 9 - Oath**

The day has finally arrived, and though it's early morning, Zoro is buzzing with excitement. It's finally the first day for the kendo tournament he is taking part in. The tournament starts at 9am, and as it takes 4 hours to get to the other city that it is held in, Zoro is up and ready to leave by half three in the morning. As he is one of the contestants in the competition, he has to be there at 8am, and so he is getting picked up by Nami and her older sister Nojiko, at around 4am. Zoro had been planning to go to the tournament by himself, but Luffy had texted him last night saying that he, Nami, Usopp, and Chopper were all going with him, and that Nojiko would be going too as she would be driving them there and back. Nojiko is the same age as Zoro and Sanji, and instead of staying on in school to take A Levels like they did, she had gone to college to do a diploma in art and design instead. She had started at level 2 and is now currently working on a foundation diploma at level 3.

Bored, and just wanting to leave already, Zoro looks out of his bedroom window and keeps an eye out for an old red and black car. It's not long until said car turns up outside Zoro's house, and he gets a message from Nami telling him to come down straight away, and that she'll charge him for each second it takes for him to get there. The swordsman grins, quickly grabbing his swords, before sprinting down the stairs. He is about to open the front door, but is stopped by his father.

"I didn't know you were up already."

"I haven't been to bed yet. I wanted to see you before you went. I'm sorry I can't come with you."

"Ah, that's fine. There's no one else who can help you with the dojo, and you can't cancel the lessons for today. I understand."

"Yeah… well anyway, good luck today, Zoro."

Zoro smiles and gives Koshiro a brief hug, before leaving out the front door and getting into the back of Nojiko's car.

"Hey grass-head, you took your time."

"It's marimo."

"Oh is it now? Marimo does suit you better," Nojiko replies with a grin.

"O-Oi, it's not marimo either!"

"Sanji calls him that all the time~."

Zoro groans as they tease him about it as they drive away from his house. _What the hell did I say that for? I didn't even think about... It just came out…._

"Oh hey, speaking of Sanji, have you two kissed and made up yet?"

"Who said anything about kissing?! And no, I haven't talked to him yet…"

"The marimo and his cook have fallen out? That's not much different than normal," Nojiko comments.

"Yeah but, this time it was really bad. They had this huge fight a few weeks ago and haven't spoken since. Neither of them will tell us what it's about though."

"Oi, don't talk about me as if I'm not here."

Ignoring Zoro, Nami keeps talking, as if uninterrupted at all, "Sanji's even split up with Law as well."

The swordsman's eyes widen when he hears that, "he did, why?!"

Nami turns in her seat to look back at him, "He walked in on Law and Kid fucking in Law's apartment," she says with a menacing gaze, clearly angry on Sanji's behalf.

"Seriously?" Nojiko asks, "That bastard was cheating on him? Why am I not surprised?"

Zoro stays silent as Nojiko and Nami discuss what happened between Law and Sanji. The conversation only changes when they stop to pick up Luffy, who jumps into the back with Zoro, complaining about how hungry he is. Once they've got Luffy, they then get a tired looking Usopp, before finally picking up an even more tired looking Chopper, who is still half asleep.

"If I get stopped for having all four of you in the back, one of you lot will be paying for the fine, got it?" Nojiko warns them, before heading off again, turning the radio on and playing one of her CD's with classic rock music on.

As Nojiko turns to take one of the roads out of the city, Nami pulls out several maps she has made notes on and planned out their entire route, "ok, so from here you need to take a left."

"Nami, GPS," her sister replies, not taking her eyes off of the road, and tapping the GPS that has been stuck to the dashboard, before turning it on.

The small gadget turns on, and instantly shows the right route to the place that the kendo tournament is being held at, as Nojiko had already set it up before they left.

"Just because you love geography, and are good at map reading, it doesn't mean I'm going to use your olden day ways," Nojiko teases, her younger sister pouting and huffing as she puts her maps away.

Even though it is still early in the morning, the car journey is far from silent. With Luffy constantly talking, and getting the others to play games with him, once they've fully woken up, the car is actually rather lively. Zoro is, as usual, the quietest one of the lot. He can't stop thinking about Sanji, and wondering if the cook is okay, especially after he ended up walking in on Law cheating on him. Though he reckons it is Sanji's own fault, (having caught Law and Kid at it, not the actual fact that he got cheated on) as he should have listened to him in the first place. Sanji had no right to say those hurtful things that he did, even though they are true. Despite the fact that he's still angry at the cook, he still hopes that Sanji's exam goes well today.

At some point, the swordsman falls asleep, and is woken up by Luffy when they finally get to the building that the kendo tournament is being held in. He wasn't the only who fell asleep on the way there, it ended up that Luffy was the only one who stayed awake the whole time, and of course Nojiko did too, as she was the one driving.

"Ugh, I'm so tired!" Usopp yawns as he stretches once he's gotten out of the car.

Chopper slowly gets out too, still wrapped up in a warm red blanket, "are you guys sure it's ok for us to be here? We might get into trouble at school."

"Either way, it'd be too late now, Chopper. We're already here. And besides, you gave in a sick note right, like I told you to?" Nami asks.

The youngest teen nods, but he still looks worried about the whole thing. As the others stretch and wake themselves up, Zoro spots someone interesting going around the back of the building. The man has a large katana on his back, and if that man is who Zoro thinks he is, there is no way he is going to pass up this opportunity. Silently, he quickly sets off after the man, his friends calling out to him once they notice him walking off.

"Zoro? Oi, Zoro?!" Usopp shouts as he and the others try to catch up with the swordsman, "Zoro?! Where are you going?! The entrance is the other way!"

They keep calling out to him but he ignores them as he rounds the corner of the building.

"You're Dracule Mihawk, right? I heard you would be here, so I came to find you."

"…..What do you aim for?"

The man, who was facing away from him, now turns around to address him. Mihawk is tall and lean, with black hair, a short beard, moustache and sideburns that points upwards. Zoro can now see why that the man's nickname is Hawk-Eyes, as he has strangely coloured yellow eyes, resembling those of a hawk. Mihawk is dressed in red and black ornate clothing, and is wearing a golden, crucifix pendant. His attire consists of a wide-brimmed black hat decorated with a large plume, and a long, open black coat with no shirt underneath, showing off his toned torso, with red, flower-patterned sleeves and collar. He is also wearing a pair of light purple trousers which are held up by a decorated belt and tucked inside overly large, black boots.

"To be the strongest," Zoro replies, grinning as he takes his black bandana off of his forearm and ties it around his head, "are you free? If so, then let's have a duel."

Zoro takes out one of his swords, pointing it towards Mihawk, just as his friends catch up with him.

"Eeek!" Usopp squeaks, "Isn't that the world's greatest swordsman?!"

"Zoro, what are you doing? What about the tournament?" Nami asks with a frown.

"This is more important."

Mihawk glances from one to another, before looking Zoro in the eye, "Not here. People will be turning up soon. There's an old, unused car park not far from here."

The man turns around and the others follow him to a different car park.

"Z-Zoro, are you sure this is such a good idea?" Chopper asks, "You could die…."

"I'll be fine, Chopper."

The green haired swordsman gently ruffles the younger teen's hair, and then starts walking in front of the others as they stop behind him, and he faces Mihawk once more.

"If you're a competent swordsman by any means, then I can demonstrate the clear difference in strength between you and I, without needing to cross blades at all. But still, you dare to challenge me. Does your bravery come from your conviction...? Or from ignorance…?"

"It comes from my ambition and a promise to a friend."

Luffy and the others watch as Zoro takes out the rest of his swords, placing the hilt of the third one into his mouth, and clenching it with his teeth.

"To be honest, I never thought I'd be able to meet you so early on…."

"A waste, if you ask me," Mihawk replies as he grabs his golden crucifix which turns out to be hiding a small dagger, and points the dagger towards Zoro.

"Just what are you planning to do with that?"

"I'm different from those stupid brutes who'd go all out just to hunt a mere rabbit. Unfortunately, I do not have a blade smaller than this at the moment."

"There's a limit, to just how much you can underestimate me!" Zoro growls back, "You better not regret it when you die!"

He gets ready to attack, using his three sword style, and charging for Mihawk.

"Hear me, little frog in his well. It's time for you to realise that the world is bigger than what it seems from your well."

Zoro strikes, using all three of his swords, but they are all easily stopped at the same time by Mihawk's small dagger. He tries to push through, but finds it difficult. _I can't move…. There hasn't been a single man who could see through that move until now! So how can he stop me with that toy?! This is ridiculous! It's not possible for the world to be this far away!"_ Jumping away, he quickly moves in to use another attack, but is sent flying onto his back by Mihawk's defence. _There shouldn't be such a vast difference between us! There can't be!_ He hears his friends from behind him, calling out to him to stop, but he ignores them and continues trying to attack the other swordsman as memories of his promise with Kuina flash inside his head. _I didn't train so hard until today, just to fight against this stupid little toy! I trained to win! I came to beat this man!_ He and Mihawk clash swords once more, the older man keeping him locked in place.

"What burdens you so? What do you still desire at the extent of your strength, weakling….?"

"How dare you call Zoro a weakling?!" Nami shouts as she and her sister step forward, about to try and stop the fight, but Luffy grabs a hold of them and stops them.

"Stay put, right here!"

Zoro is knocked back to the floor by Mihawk, but he gets back up and charges at his opponent again. As he strikes, Mihawk dodges all three of his swords, and uses Zoro's opening as a chance to drive the dagger into his chest, but not very deep. Zoro's friends call out to him as he is stabbed, and he clenches his teeth down onto the sword in his mouth as he bears with the pain, standing still.

"Do you wish for me to pierce your heart thus? Why do you refuse to step back?"

"Beats me… not really sure myself… but I get the feeling… that if I were to take even one step back right now, I'd lose something very important to me…. A promise or oath…. Or whatever it is would be irreversibly broken, and that I'd never be able to return back to where I'm standing right now."

"Yes, such is defeat."

"Haha…. Then that's why I can't step back."

"Even if it means your death…?"

"I'd much rather die."

_What conviction he possesses! To rather choose death than defeat…._ "Kid… tell me your name," Mihawk orders as he pulls his dagger out of Zoro's chest.

"Roronoa Zoro."

"I shall remember it, for your strength is not often seen in this world. And to pay my respect to you as a fellow swordsman, I shall end this duel with my black sword, the world's strongest sword," the older swordsman relies as he puts his dagger back in its place before unsheathing the large black sword on his back.

Mihawk charges at Zoro, but he has one more trick up his sleeve. Spinning his swords, Zoro charges right back at hawk-eyes. Both strike at each other as they cross paths, but unfortunately for Zoro, one of his swords is sliced, and Mihawk's attack does not miss, causing him to cough up blood. _I lost… I'm no match for him…. Never even thought about the possibility of losing…. So this is… the strength of the world's strongest….!_

Zoro sheaths his swords, and then stands in front of Mihawk with his arms wide open, to the surprise of the other swordsman.

"What…?"

"A wound on one's back, is the shame of a swordsman."

"Splendid," Mihawk grins as he takes Zoro's invitation, and slices the green haired teen across his chest.

"Zoro!" Luffy cries out, as he and his friends watch in horror while Zoro falls, defeated, blood pouring out of him from several wounds.

_Don't rush to death so fast! Young one!_ Mihawk sheaths his sword back onto his back, as Zoro's friend's rush over to the fallen teen, and he dodges an attack from Luffy.

"Damn you!"

Luffy attacks him once more, but he deflects it and sends the boy flying, "fear not. That man is still alive."

Looking back behind him, he hears Zoro coughing, surrounded by the rest of their friends as they call an ambulance.

As he drifts in and out of consciousness, before he finally gives in, the last words he hears are Mihawk's,

"I am Dracule Mihawk! It is much too early for you to die. Know thy self! Know thy world! And become strong, Roronoa! No matter how many months or years pass by, I shall wait for you. So forge on ahead with that fierce conviction and try to surpass my sword! Surpass me, Roronoa!"


	10. Exam Wars

**Chapter 10 - Exam Wars**

The school bell rings, signalling the end of morning registration. Sanji now has five minutes to make it across to the other side of the building before the next bell rings for the first lesson of the day. For Sanji, however, he will not be attending his classes as today is his all-important final practical exam for food technology. After finally coming up with a fourth dish for his exam, and planning out his table design, as well as preparing step by step instructions for making all four dishes, he is now raring to go. The blond is confident that his exam will go smoothly, but as all good chefs know, there is always the possibility of errors, and he is prepared to take them on.

Both of the food tech classrooms, with fully equipped kitchen stations, are being used to hold the examinations, though only 12 students from both of the classes in his year are taking their exam today, 6 in each room, and today is the last day of the practical exams. Sanji didn't mind having to wait until the last day to take his exam, as it allowed him more time to prepare. He was also allowed to taste test the dishes prepared by the students on the days before, as he is on good terms with the food tech teachers. This was as long as he didn't tell his classmates what the teachers thought of their cooking, as well as the grades they were given for their overall performance. They trusted him enough to know that he wouldn't change his plans and use the other student's dishes or table designs as his own.

Sanji gets into his classroom just as the bell rings, and as usual, he greets his teacher, Jessica Lewis, with his usual charming demeanour.

Jessica is a young, tall, beautiful woman, with medium length blonde hair, and dark green eyes. As most days, her hair is up in a bun, leaving out a few strands of hair which fall neatly shaped around her cheekbones, and today she is wearing a white long sleeved shirt, and black skinny jeans, with a red scarf and matching red boots.

"Good morning Sanji. I hope you're ready for your exam. And just so you know, I won't be going easy on you because you're one of my top students. Your presentation and cooking skills will be assessed in the same way as everybody else's.

"Of course Mrs. Lewis~," the cook swoons.

His teacher smiles, and then goes to talk to a few of the other students who are taking their exam today, before heading next door to check in with the other food tech teacher.

"I've been looking for you, Sanji…"

"Hm?"

The blond turns around to see a girl in school uniform, around his age, standing at one of the doorways to the classroom (the food tech classrooms have two entrances on the same side of the room, one on each end). She has short, fiery pink hair, and pink eyes.

"... for ten years," the girl says, then tap dances towards Sanji, finishing her entrance off with a spin.

"Her name is Carmen."

"The greatest cook in our year."

Two boys step out from behind Carmen, one with blond hair, and one with brown.

"They call me the Woman of Passion, The Burning Carmen."

The blond boy with Carmen introduces himself as Leo, and the other boy as Jose. They claim to be Carmen's first and second disciples, though to Sanji they seem to be more like her fan club than anything else, and to be honest, he wouldn't mind joining it for Carmen alone.

"Ah, what beauty~," Sanji swoons, "for a gorgeous chef such as yourself to be searching for me~. Ah~ I'm in heaven~. I am honoured to make your acquaintance, Carmen~."

The blond's eyes turn to hearts as he goes to place a kiss to the girl's hand, making Leo angry.

"Don't you dare!" Carmen shouts, as she grabs a frying pan from a table behind her and whacks Sanji over the head with it, causing a few of the other students' attention their way, though Sanji is unfazed from the hit.

"Such burning passion~. B-But Carmen, have I met you before?"

"Jose, Leo, explain!"

Carmen's two disciples stand between her and Sanji as they explain, taking it in turns to speak, Leo starting them off.

"As we said before, Carmen is the best the cook in our year."

"She is in the same year as you, but was placed in the second half of the year throughout, until the numbers dwindled down in sixth form."

"So because of that it is highly plausible that you two never crossed paths, until now."

"And it is also because of that, we'd never heard of you before sixth form."

"Though Carmen is still the best cook in our year, crushing the other cooking students in their exams and practical lessons."

"That is correct," Carmen grins as she steps back in front of the boys, pushing them aside, "all of the students who faced me in my classes, each and every one was a worthless coward. I had begun to believe that I had no equal at all within this school. That was until we entered sixth form and I heard some other students gossiping about how happy they were to be in the same food tech class as you, as they could now get to taste your amazing cooking. They even said that you're the best in our year. Losing that title to someone I'd never heard of before… It was absurd. After that, I set out to find you. I searched every corner of this school for ten whole years!"

"Actually, it was only 10 days," Jose corrects, before Leo adds, "Carmen likes to exaggerate sometimes."

"Shut up you two!"

Carmen hits the boys with the same frying pan she hit Sanji with, in retaliation, before turning back to the cook.

"Face me, Sanji! During this exam, we will see today who the best cook is in our year. I will skilfully defeat here! Prepare yourself!"

Carmen laughs loudly just as Mrs. Lewis makes her way back into the room.

"So, everyone is finally here. Pick a station so I can talk to you all before we start. And hurry up, I don't like time wasters. And you two!" Jessica says, pointing to Leo and Jose, "you are not supposed to be here, so get out and go to your class!"

The boys scurry out of the classroom, slamming the door behind them. Carmen winks at Sanji before picking her station, making him swoon, and the blond gets left with one of the last stations at the front, though he doesn't mind as his beautiful teacher Jessica is standing right next to him as she makes her way to the middle of the first two stations to address the class once more.

"Right, now that the pests are out of the way, I will explain the exam conditions one more time. You have five hours to make three or four courses of your choice, with optional side dishes, though they are not required. You will have your allotted break halfway through, during this time you must not be in this classroom, and you are not allowed to continue cooking. If you do, you will be marked down. Your lunch will be later than the other students today, and it will be after the exam. You are then to come back here afterwards. During your 5 hours you will also need to completely clean your work stations, including the equipment you used and they will need to be returned to their place. If your workstation is not spotless afterwards, then you will be marked down. Your four main dishes will need to include at least one dessert. You will then need to display these on one of the tables which are lined up at the back and front of the classroom. This will need to be done before your time is up. I hope that you have all remembered to bring a tablecloth and any decorations that you are going to use. You should also have your step by step guide on how you have planned to make all of your courses, and you will need labels for each dish on the table at the end. The step by step guide must not be fully detailed, and you are not allowed to make one dish at a time, you must multi-task, as this is one of the skills you will be assessed on for this exam. Also, you are not allowed to help someone else out with their cooking. You are allowed to ask me for help if something goes wrong, or if you forget something, but you may be marked down depending on how you handle the situation. Most of the equipment you need is already out at the back of the classroom, if you need anything else then check the storage cupboard at the back. I suggest you claim a table for your presentation first, using your tablecloth, before you make a start. Remember the rules when cooking, and I hope that you have all brought all of the ingredients that you need. Ok, that's it. Your time starts… now."

The other students start scrambling about to get a table, however, Sanji goes straight to getting out his ingredients and equipment. Once that's done, and he's turned on the oven, he starts making his blackcurrant jelly; putting most of the blackcurrants into a pan filled with water, and then adds 100g of caster sugar which he had measured out the night before. It's not long before the water boils, so he then turns the heat down and keeps an eye on it as it cooks for ten minutes. While the jelly cooks, he also starts chopping up some vegetables, and other ingredients for his other dishes. Once the ten minutes are up, Sanji continues following the recipe and it's not long before he's placing the Jelly into the fridge to set. Before he gets back to his workstation, Sanji grabs the tablecloth he is going to use, from his bag, and heads over to one of the unclaimed tables near the front of the class.

"H-Hey! You can't have your table next to mine!"

"Ah~ Carmen~, this must be fate~," Sanji swoons with hearts in his eyes.

The fiery pink haired girl frowns and lays out her cloth on the last remaining table which happens to be next to Sanji's.

"Go move somewhere else!"

"Carmen! Sanji!"

They both flinch at the sound and turn around to be faced with Mrs. Lewis.

"Stop arguing and get on with it. You know I hate time wasters. If you didn't want your displays to be next to each other's then you should have picked a table when I told you to instead of leaving it until now. Get back to your stations or I'll mark you down."

Carmen and Sanji quickly apologise then get back to their cooking. The two of them battle it out during the exam, though it's mainly Carmen showing off her extravagant cooking skills, however, all she's doing is basic cooking skills which she makes out to seem extravagant, and laughing maniacally as she chops and peels her carrots.

At around ten minutes left in the exam, the students are frantically rushing around to clean up their work stations and equipment before the time runs out, while Sanji and Carmen calmly carry out these tasks, and add the finishing touches to their table presentation. Once the exam is finished, and the room is deemed clean enough, Jessica sends them off quietly for lunch. Carmen and Sanji leave, only to sneak back in together to peek through the classroom door while Jessica and several other teachers who are free, taste test and evaluate the students' practical work. The teachers joining Jessica are: an art teacher who specialises in wax work, called Mr. Three, Mr. Caesar Clown who teaches chemistry, Sanji's history teacher and friend, Ms Nico, Luffy's drama teacher Mr. Hadena Buggy (the students mainly call him Buggy the Clown), Usopp's wood tech teacher (who's also their friend), Mr. Cutty Flam, but everyone calls him Franky, and Jessica's husband Jonathan Lewis, who is a PE teacher.

"Shurorororo! The students have done well today. Better than I expected from the last bunch to be taking their exam."

"Caesar's right. These are very flashy presentations too."

Carmen and Sanji watch quietly as the teachers go from table to table, Jessica taking pictures of each one before they taste the dishes. Robin notices them at the doorway and winks at them, causing the cook to swoon, but thankfully she doesn't inform the others that they have uninvited guests.

Eventually, the teachers make their way to the front of the classroom, and Sanji and Carmen quickly head over to the doorway at the other end of the room to get a closer look at the reactions to their tables.

"Ah, Carmen's table is beautifully presented, don't you agree, Ms. Nico?" asks Jessica.

"I do indeed. I think I'll have a taste of the chocolate pudding first."

Carmen grins smugly at Sanji as the teachers compliment her table presentation and courses. On her table she has laid her dishes out on white crockery which are spread out on a red tablecloth with a pink hearts design. The theme for her presentation is love, and so she has set out two candles in the middle of the table, with a red 3D heart which Leo had made out of paper for her, which has been placed between the candles. She has also scattered red rose petals around the dishes for decoration. The dishes that Carmen has made are: mushroom soup garnished with parsley and served in a white bowl, boiled crab which is still in his shell and accompanied with vegetables on a white plate with a cucumber mignonette for dipping. For dessert: chocolate pudding served in a glass and topped with pieces of bananas and cherries with cream and chocolate sauce, and the final dessert which is heart shaped shortbread biscuits with whipped cream and strawberry sauce, and is placed in a white bowl.

"The crab dish is good. Apart from the broccoli….," Jonathan comments.

Jessica rolls her eyes at her husband, "that's only because you hate broccoli, and any kind of vegetable….that aside for you, it is an excellent dish."

"Carmen's food is super~ delicious. Definitely the best I've tasted here today."

Robin smiles as she gently places her hand on Franky's forearm to get his attention, "we still have one more table to see."

"Ah yes, Sanji-bro's food is always super~," the wood tech teacher replies, smiling back down at Robin.

The teachers talk amongst themselves, as Jessica scribbles down some notes in her notepad, before turning their attention to the last table.

Sanji's table presentation is inspired by his love for the ocean, and so the tablecloth and decorations are different shades of blue, including the crockery which is a darker colour to the rest of the display. The first dish the teachers try is Sanji's seafood pasta. This is followed by the grilled tuna with tomato spaghetti. For dessert, is the blackcurrant jelly which in a glass bowl and has been set into the shape of a jellyfish, topped with a little whipped cream and the leftover blackcurrants.

The last dish is the star of the table, Sanji's kiwi and passion fruit meringue Pavlova. Robin chuckles as she notices the tag with the dish's name, and she whispers something to Franky. Sanji blushes as he watches this exchange. Maybe he shouldn't have named his last dessert, Marimo Pavlova.

The Pavlova has three tiers to it, with meringue layers, as well as lime curd. The top has neatly and delicately placed pieces of kiwi, and passion fruit which has been cut into stars to resemble starfish. There are also small mini meringues which have been used to decorate around the Pavlova, and these are to resemble marimo.

"Wow, this looks amazing," Jessica comments as she admires the Marimo Pavlova.

The other teachers nod and mumble in agreement before setting out to have another taste of the dishes that Sanji has prepared.

"Mm, this is definitely the best food I've tasted today."

Mrs. Lewis nods in agreement as she tastes another bite from the seafood pasta, "It is. But not just from today, Sanji's end results for his exam are the best this year. No, the best we've had in this school for a few years now."

Sanji's eyes widen when his mobile goes off with an incoming call. He and Carmen quickly move away from the doorway as he rejects the call, before sprinting outside. _Shit, I forgot to turn my phone on silent when I turned it on after the exam!_

"Oi, who's out there?!"

"Don't worry about it Mr. Lewis. It's probably just some students who are out on an errand for their teacher. It is the last lesson of the day after all. And the students who had their cooking exam are already in the cafeteria having their late lunch," Robin smiles as she draws the teachers' attention away from checking out the hallway.

Outside in the schoolyard, Sanji and Carmen finally come to stop. He had followed the other out to her meeting point with Leo and Jose.

"Hey Carmen, did you win?" Leo asks.

Carmen's whole body shakes and she clenches her fists at her sides. Sanji can't tell whether she's shaking with anger or if she is about to cry as she stays silent, so Sanji answers for her.

"Ah, uh… well there weren't really any winners with this exam but, they said my food was the best in the year... or something..."

"Unforgivable. I can never forgive you!" Carmen finally voices, "I've wanted to have a match with you for so long. That's why I worked desperately to get better. I wanted to share the same title as you. I didn't just hear of you 10 days ago…. That was when I'd only found out that you were in this school…. The first time I saw you was ten years ago. I can't remember who took me there, but when I was at the Baratie, I sneaked over to the kitchen door to listen inside. And that was when I saw you. You were talking about your dream to the other chefs. It was clear to me during the exam that since that day, your dream has never changed….. I thought I could defeat that. I can't forgive myself for being so arrogant…! I've lost. Your cooking was delicious. The greatest cook in our year, probably even the whole school, is you."

Sanji grins and swoons, "Aww~ for Carmen to say something so kind, now I'm truly in heaven~!"

Carmen smiles and steps aside when Sanji tries to hug her, "I'll concede for today, but you had better be prepared for our next match. I won't lose again."

"If it's a challenge from you Carmen, I'll take it any day."

Carmen, Leo, and Jose all leave for the cafeteria while Sanji checks his phone. His notifications tell him that he's got 33 messages and 20 missed calls, mainly from Luffy, and some from Nami and Usopp. The last missed call was from Luffy, who left a voice message for him. Unlocking his phone, he then dials the number for voicemail and follows the service instructions until he hears Luffy's voice.

_Oi, Sanji! It's really bad! Zoro's at the hospital! You need to get here now and-!"_

"_Luffy, give me that! He can't just drop his exam for this! Quick, hand me the phone, before the time runs out…!"_

Sanji's eyes widen and he anxiously waits to hear his precious Nami's voice.

"_... Sanji, it's me. We've just got to the local hospital. Zoro is in a really bad way. Before the tournament this morning, he saw Mihawk so the idiot got him to duel with him… He's lost a lot of blood Sanji… Zoro's going to be fine, though he still hasn't woken up… But don't run out from your exam. The rest of us are here, just…"_

The message cuts off as they must have run out of time. Panicking, Sanji quickly checks his messages. They all pretty much say the same thing, Zoro's fight with Mihawk… he's lost a lot of blood… he's been taken to the hospital…, and then the last one says that Zoro got transferred to the hospital in their home city after the important surgery was over.

After scanning the texts, Sanji quickly pockets his phone before rushing off to the hospital. _That damn bastard's out of his mind! His enemy was the world's strongest! The results obvious! If it's going to mean your death, then just throw your damn ambition away!_

* * *

**A/N - For those of you who may not remember/not know, in the anime, Carmen is the woman, along with her disciples Leo and Jose, who challenged Sanji to a cooking competition at Loguetown during a filler arc.**

**Jessica is the head chef at a marine base during the G-8 filler arc, and Jonathan is Jessica's husband. He is a vice admiral at the same marine base during this arc. However, Lewis isn't their last name. It is a name I gave them as they do not have a last name in the anime.**

**One more thing, I have also given Buggy the first name Hadena. He does not have this name in the manga or the anime. Hadena, according to google translate, means flashy. ^.^**


	11. Let Your Tears Fall

**Chapter 11 - Let Your Tears Fall**

Still running, Sanji finally makes it to the hospital. Unfortunately for the blond, as soon as he gets in through the front door he bumps into the one person he definitely does not want to see, Trafalgar Law.

"Sanji? Are you okay? Why are you-?"

"I'm not here to see you if that's what you're thinking. Where's Zoro?"

"Zoro?"

"He got transferred down here. The idiot got Hawk-Eyes to duel with him when he went out for that tournament thing."

"Shit, he fought the world's greatest swordsman?"

An uncomfortable silence surrounds them and Sanji glances around anxiously, wondering which way to go. _The lifts would probably be a good start..._

"... Look, Sanji, I'm really sorry about what happened between us, please can-"

"I don't have time for this. I need to see Zoro. And no, I won't get back with you."

"That wasn't what I was going to ask..."

"Well either way, I'm not interested."

Walking away, the blond gets stopped with a light grip to his wrist by the doctor.

"Just leave me alone, Law. I need to see Zoro."

"Do you know where he is?"

"...No."

"Then let me ask for you. Wait here."

Sanji closes his eyes tightly as the slim fingers wrapped around his wrist slowly remove themselves. He stays exactly where he is while Law goes over to the front desk. As the older man comes back, he opens his eyes but refuses to look at Law.

"He's on the third floor, ward ten, side room four. Shall I come with you?"

"No. I can find it by myself."

Sanji leaves the man at the front of the hospital and sprints towards the lifts, getting inside and heading straight up to the third floor. Once he's out, he follows the signs to ward ten, and then asks one of the nurses where side room four is. Sanji is led to the right room, and outside of the door he sees Luffy, Usopp, Nami, Chopper, and Nojiko.

"Sanji!" Chopper wails as he rushes over to the blond and hugs him tightly.

"You're here? What about your exam?"

"Its fine Nami my dear, the exam has already finished…. Can I go in?"

"Of course you can. Zoro's not awake yet though…. Robin said that she will come over with Brook and Franky once school has finished…."

Sanji nods, and stands staring at the door which will lead him to Zoro. He wants to go in, needs to, but his legs and feet won't move.

"Sanji… It's ok. We'll be right out here if you need us. Zoro will be fine. They operated on him at the other hospital and stitched him up. He's covered in bandages but that's nothing to worry about. He'll wake up soon. I know he will," Luffy says as he gently places his hand on Sanji's shoulder comfortingly.

He smiles slightly to the younger teen then makes his way past the others and into the side room, turning around to face the door as he closes it. Sanji takes a deep breath and shuts his eyes before turning around to face the bed. Opening his eyes, they focus on the blob of green hair sticking out from under the bed covers. The blond bites his lip as he walks around to Zoro's side and sits on the chair provided. He can see Zoro's face clearly from here. There are scratches on his cheeks, and Sanji pulls back the covers to take a peek at the bandages which are wrapped around the swordsman's torso and shoulders. He gulps when he sees that the white strips are stained with dry blood, and he quickly covers Zoro back up so he doesn't have to look.

"You shitty swordsman, you should have just given up when you knew you couldn't win. What's the point in trying when it means that you're risking your own life?"

"Shit-cook…?" a croaky voice asks, Sanji's eyes widening when he realises that Zoro is awake and looking straight at him.

"O-oi, don't speak. Here…. Drink this."

Sanji grabs the glass provided in the room on the rolling adjustable table, and takes the jug, pouring Zoro a glass of water. He then helps the swordsman sit up, and sip on the drink until it's finished.

"Ever since I've decided to become the world's greatest swordsman, I threw away my attachment to life. I thought you knew that."

"…..You still shouldn't have fought him like that…"

"…. I'm sorry…. For worrying you…"

"W-what? I wasn't worried….," Sanji replies, his eyes widening when he sees tears fall from Zoro's eyes, "Z-Zoro? Are you crying?"

"…. I'm sorry…. I know… that if I don't become the world's strongest swordsman, it will only embarrass you and the others….!"

"Embarrass? What the hell are you talking about?! Of course it won't embarrass us!"

Zoro doesn't seem to be hearing him as he cries, holding back a sob and breaking down in front of Sanji. The blond is certain that with the level that Zoro is shouting at, that the others just outside the door can hear everything the swordsman is saying.

"I swear that I'm never going to lose again! Until the day I fight him and win… I swear! To never lose again!"

Sanji has no idea what to do in this situation, so on instinct, he slides his fingers through Zoro's hair and gently massages Zoro's scalp, using his free hand to grab onto Zoro's hand tightly, looking away as the swordsman cries. He keeps running his fingers through Zoro's hair as the tears slowly stop and Zoro settles down.

"I'm sorry Zoro, about what I said to you, a few weeks ago. I shouldn't have said those hurtful things, and I should have believed you when you told me about Law…. I know it wasn't your fault about what happened to Kuina."

"Of course it was. I was the one who started the duel that night, with real katana. If I hadn't had done that….."

"You didn't know she was going to fall down the stairs Zoro. That wasn't your fault and I shouldn't have used that as a way to get back at you."

"And I shouldn't have said that I wished I'd never met you, because you know that's not true, right? And I don't hate you either… well I do sometimes," Zoro ends with a playful smirk, causing the blond to chuckle.

"Yeah, same to you too."

* * *

A few months later it is finally the day, for those who had taken them, to get their exam results, and Zoro has already fully healed from his duel with Mihawk. Zeff drives Zoro and Sanji down to the school early morning to collect their results. They won't tell each other what they've got yet, as Luffy has made everyone promise not to share their results until everyone is at his place so that they can tell everyone at the same time and celebrate.

Sanji's father waits in his car in the car park while he and Zoro go into the school hall to find their sixth form tutor and get their results. Stepping in through the double door, the hall is packed with other students like themselves, a mixture of those there for their A level results, and those there for their GCSE exam results. Sanji spots their friends Usopp and Nami amongst the crowd, and his eyes turn to hearts when he sees Robin standing behind a table with a sign for his and Zoro's sixth form class.

"Ms. Nico~, it's so great to see you again~."

"It's great to see you too Sanji, and you Zoro. Your form tutor is ill so I'm filling in for her today. She wishes she could be here to see how well you've done," Robin replies, and smiles as she finds the correct brown envelopes, handing over their results, "I can't wait to find out tonight how you've both done."

"You'll be joining us tonight~?" Sanji asks.

"Yes. Brook and Franky will be joining us too."

Zoro and Sanji chat with Robin for a while, until students from their form turn up, and they need to leave so that they don't hold up the line. Heading back outside, the suspense is too much for Sanji so he opens his envelope and quickly reads his results while Zoro gets lost in the car park trying to find Zeff's car.

The blond is happy to find that he has passed all of his exams with A's and B's, including an A* in food technology. Sanji has also been accepted into the local universities for the culinary art courses that he applied for. What has him stunned is that there is a letter from one of the top universities renowned for their culinary art courses and degrees. Quickly scanning through the letter, he finds that the university is offering him a place with them. The only problem is that this university is over 8 hours away from home, and Sanji was planning on staying here to get his degree. Having a degree from one of the top universities would look great on his CV, but there are the extra expenses, and he wouldn't be able to see his friends…. or Zoro. Sanji knows that taking an offer from a university he didn't even apply for, as well as the fact that the offer is from one of the top universities in the country, is an amazing opportunity for him and he'd be an idiot not to take it. Then again, the local universities are just as great, and this way he'd be able to see his friends. Sanji is unsure of what to do. He remembers what Zoro said about his own dream, and if he isn't willing to take a risk, which yes will probably land him in a lot more debt, then can he really say that he'd give it his all to reach his dream?

Sanji is snapped out of his thoughts when he hears a car horn and his father's angry shouts to Zoro about how he can't even find the only silver car still in the car park, and he chuckles as he hurries over before Zeff's language gets even worse and they get into trouble for it. He'll make a decision about the university offer later.


	12. Looking Towards The Future

**Chapter 12 - Looking Towards The Future**

After getting home from school with his results, Sanji had talked to Zeff about his university offer and they had discussed it together. He knows what he is going to do now and he is happy with his decision. He just needs to tell his friends.

Straightening out his suit jacket, Sanji then knocks on the door to Luffy's house. Seconds later he's attacked by one of Luffy's hugs and it's not long until he's sitting on the sofa in the living with a bottle of beer in his hand, listening to his friends talk while music plays quietly in the background from the CD player. Unlike their last party at the D brother's house, certain people aren't there but it is still just as lively. Those who are at the party this time are: Zoro, Sanji, Nami, Vivi, Robin, Franky, Brook, Usopp, Chopper, and of course, Luffy.

"So Vivi, what will you be doing next?" Nami asks as she gently leans on the other.

"I've got my second year of GCSE's to do, remember? How much have you drunk already?"

Nami giggles and smiles as she looks up at her friend, "Oh yeah~ I forgot~. And I've not drunk much, yet~."

"Vivi, my dear~, how did your results go~?" Sanji asks, swooning over the two girls from across the room.

"I got mostly B's and a few A's."

"Ah, it's the same for me~."

"I'm guessing one of the A's is for food tech?"

"Actually I had an A* for that," the blond replies proudly.

"That's great Sanji. I had an A* too, for geography. Zoro probably would have failed that A Level if he took it."

"Oi, shut up, you witch!"

"Don't call Nami a witch, you marimo head!"

As usual, Zoro and Sanji end up fighting, and the others have to step in before it gets too out of hand. After they've settled down, they all discuss their results with each other and what they are going to do next, besides Chopper who didn't take any as he's only in year 8, and Robin, Brook, and Franky who are teachers at the school so they didn't have any exams. Nami had one A, one A*, and two B's. She will be continuing with school and will be taking her second set of A levels for the same four subjects she took in the first year; Geography, Maths, English, and Physics. Usopp had mainly B's with his GCSE exams, with a few A's, including one in Art. He told the others that he had been talking with Nojiko and with her help he has decided to take the same college courses as her, instead of going on to do A Levels, and that he will be starting on his level 2 diploma for Art and Design in September before going on to do Level 3 the following year. Luffy won't be taking any A Levels either, but he also won't be going to college. He has decided to go straight to getting a job and has managed to convince Zeff to give him a job washing up the dishes at the Baratie. He thinks that this way he'll be able to eat there for free. In his GCSE's Luffy got mainly D's and a few C's.

Sanji had been one of the few sixth form students who took 5 subjects, and in his results he got B's for Maths, Physical Education (P.E), and English, an A in Business Studies, and an A* in Food Technology. He had told the others that he had been accepted into the local universities, and with hesitation he told them about the offer for a place in one of the top universities in the country and that he is going to take it. Once he'd told them that the uni is 8 hours away they were still happy for him, even if they did say it with tears in their eyes, including Chopper, Usopp, and Luffy who were wailing as they hugged him tightly and made him promise to stay in touch with them all. The only one who hasn't said anything about him moving away for uni is Zoro. Not only that, but the swordsman also hasn't talked about his exam results, and though he won't admit it, Sanji is slightly worried.

"So marimo, what did you get?"

"For what?"

"Your results, of course."

"I don't want to discuss it."

"Oi, you can't just not tell us! We've all shared ours! I'll charge you if you don't!" Nami slurs as she sips on another drink, struggling to stay sitting up and leaning more against Vivi who is still sitting next to her.

"I don't care. I'm not telling you, so shut the fuck up."

Zoro gets up from sitting on the floor then goes out into the kitchen, Nami shouting after him, "Yeah?! Just run away then! I don't care!"

"Nami," Vivi frowns, "that's a bit harsh."

"Eh, its fine, he can handle it~."

Nami moves to lie down and rest her head on Vivi's lap as Sanji gets up from his seat and follows after Zoro. He makes his way into the kitchen but the swordsman isn't there. Sanji notices that the back door is slightly open, so he grabs another beer, and then joins Zoro outside in the back garden, sitting next to him on the wooden bench which is just in front of the kitchen window.

"Come on, what's the damage? If you're not telling us then you must think it's bad."

"Just leave it cook, I don't want to talk about it."

Sanji sighs as he takes out a pack of cigarettes out of his jacket pocket, "fine, do what you like," he then takes out a single stick, putting the packet back before lighting up his cigarette and taking a few long drags, blowing out the smoke and watching it swirl, mingling with the cold air.

In contrast to how it was when he turned up at Luffy's, it is now much darker outside, and a lot colder.

"I failed my exams…."

"Shit, really? What did you get?"

Zoro sighs and takes a sip of his beer before replying to the blond, "I got a D in English, and P.E, and a U in Business."

"That's not too bad, aside from the fail in Business, but the other two are still passes, just low ones… You can still retake them if you need to. What did you get for Maths?"

"I got a C…."

"Eh?! But you're better at maths than me! I only managed to get a B because you helped me revise for it…. Sorry, I'm probably not helping…"

"It's fine, I just don't do well in written exams, remember? I aced the physical exam in PE, it's just the written exam was so low that I ended up getting a D overall."

"I wouldn't have minded getting a D," Sanji replies with a smirk and a playful wink.

The swordsman chuckles and finishes off his beer, "shut up, shit-cook."

"...Oi, don't get too down about those results. You still passed three A Levels, and these things are a lot harder than GCSE's. What uni did you want to get into? I'm sure they'll still take you on if you need to re-sit your exams, if you wanted to. What are you even doing next anyway? You haven't said."

"I haven't applied for uni, or college."

"What?! But you told be at the beginning of the year that you did!"

"Yeah…. I lied…."

Sanji harshly kicks Zoro's knee, causing the swordsman to grunt and glare at him, "what the hell was that for?!"

"That was for lying to me, of course. What are you going to do? It's way too late to apply to a college or university now."

"I don't want to go to any of them. That was the whole point of me not applying in the first place."

"Then why the hell didn't you say anything before?"

"Because if the teachers found out then they'd be nagging me the whole time about what I'm going to do when I finish school, and I didn't have a clue then."

"And now?"

"I'm going to train."

Sanji watches in a mixture of confusing and mild interest as Zoro takes off his shirt. He gets an eyeful of not just Zoro's chest, but of the scar that goes from his hip, across the swordsman's torso, and up to his shoulder. The scar is still healing and is pink in places, but in others it's red and looks as if it still hurts.

"Shouldn't you put some cream on that or something?" the blond asks as he looks over the scar.

"It's fine."

"But it looks painful. And what are you on about training for anyway?"

"Getting this scar when I did was the best thing that has happened to me."

"…What the fuck have you been drinking?"

"Shut up, you idiot, I'm being serious. If it wasn't for that duel with Mihawk, I would never have realised how far behind I really was. I need to up my game if I want to become the world's greatest swordsman. So as soon as I can, I'm going to start training full time, now that school and exams are out of the way."

"... I suppose that's good an all, but what about a job? You still need one, after all. What about at the dojo? If you really want to focus more on your training, I'm sure Koshiro would let you work there. You could work on your own times then."

"No. I don't to want to work there."

"Why not?"

"If I do, that'll probably be it for my whole life, as he wants me to take it over once he can't run it anymore, and I don't want that, I don't want to do that one thing for the rest of the life. I'm not ready to decide what kind of job I want. Before any of that I need to focus on my training. That's more important to me right now."

"Okay, I get it… but…. what about when you do know what you want? And you'll need a higher grade in your A Levels? It'll be too late to take them then. You should at least think about retaking them first. I know I said they were okay as they are passes, but you're likely to have a better chance if you higher your grades."

Sanji puts out his cigarette, then sips on his beer some more. They're silent after this, but it's comfortable, even after the frustrating talk about exams and jobs. Zoro ends up putting his shirt back on, and Sanji scoots closer to him, leaning on him and resting his head on Zoro's shoulder.

"...So that uni….you're really going then?"

"Yeah... I'd be an idiot not to take the offer."

"You're already an idiot, dartboard brow."

"Says the man with moss growing on his head."

"Yeah yeah, very funny. Are you going to finish that?"

"Nah, you have it."

Sanji links arms with Zoro's as he hands over his unfinished beer, then hugs Zoro's arm as he presses up against him more for warmth.

"Hug my arm any tighter and it'll go numb."

"Shut up, I'm cold."

"Go inside then if you're cold."

"Are you going back in?"

"No, I'm going to stay out here for a bit."

"Then I'm staying right here."

"Tch, whatever…."

Zoro hides his smile by drinking the rest of Sanji's beer. It's the rare moments like these that he loves the most, and he's going to spend as much time as he can creating more of these memories, before Sanji moves away for university.

* * *

"Right eggplant, that's the last box, hurry up and get in the car, we're leaving."

"Yeah I will now, you shitty old man, just give me a minute."

Sanji smiles when he turns back around from the car to face his best friend who helped them carry his things down. Zoro looks as calm as usual, standing there with his arms crossed across his chest, with his posture unwavering.

"Well, that's everything," the blond speaks as his father gets into the driver's seat of his car, "I better get in before my old man loses it. I suppose it's fair, he does have to drive straight back home once he's dropped me off, after all."

A nod is all his gets in reply as the swordsman doesn't meet his gaze, and he sighs as he takes the first step, doing what neither of them wants to do and cave in, and he hugs Zoro around his neck as the man's arms are still firmly pressed against his own chest, "I suppose I'll miss you and all that…"

"Yeah, I'll miss you too, shit cook….."

Sanji smiles when Zoro finally moves his arms and returns the hug, wrapping them around the blond's waist.

"Oi eggplant, finish it up with the sappy goodbyes and get in the fucking the car already! At this rate we'll end up being stuck in traffic!"

He chuckles as he finally pulls away from Zoro and quickly gives the swordsman a light kiss to his cheek, "See ya, marimo. I'll text you when I get there."

All Zoro can do it is grunt in reply as he's left speechless from that one simple action, and he waves to Sanji as the blond is driven off in Zeff's car. It just won't be the same for the swordsman without his cook around.


	13. Oh How Time Flies

**Chapter 13 - Oh How Time Flies**

It feels strange being back and walking down the same streets he used to when he was younger. A lot have things have changed, but at the same time it's pretty much the same. It's the same streets, but different shops, the same type of personalities hanging around the same spots but different people, and the same Usopp but with a different appearance.

Sanji was walking through town in the city that he grew up in when he bumped into his old friend Usopp. Six years have passed since he's last seen his friends, or even been home at all. His university degree took two years to achieve, and during that time he slowly lost touch with his friends back home. Once university was over for him, he stuck around in a cheap apartment and went from working one job to two, saving up as much money as possible in order to reach his dream. And now that his dream is slowly becoming reality, he has now returned home to complete it. Sanji was anxious about seeing his friends again, and so he was going to focus on his goals before meeting up with them again. It was not at all planned, or even thought of, that he would bump into Usopp before any of that could happen.

"Sanji? Oh my god it really is you. I didn't know you were coming back."

"Ah uh, yeah… I only got back a few days ago…"

Looking over his old friend, it's almost unbelievable that this is the same scrawny guy he used to hang around with. Usopp is obviously taller than he was when they were in school, and as it is a hot summers day, the guy is shirtless and Sanji can clearly see how much more muscular the other has become. Usopp has grown his hair out and is currently keeping it tied back in a ponytail. He is wearing a white sun cap on his head, a pair of rolled up yellow pants with red suspenders, a pair of sandals because of the hot weather, a blue and white striped wristband on his left arm, and he has a pair of over the ear headphones that have been draped around his neck.

"Seriously? That's great. Are you here to stay?"

"Yeah, I am. I've bought a building just on the edge of town. I just went to check it out."

"That's great. Everyone will be so happy to see you again, especially Zoro. Oh hey, you better make sure you're free every night of this week. Once I tell Luffy he's bound to want to get everyone together again."

"Any excuse for a party, huh?" the blond chuckles, "so what are you up to now?"

"I just had my lunch and I'm heading back to work."

"Oh yeah? Where do you work?"

"Ah uh…"

Usopp chuckles nervously and rubs the back of his neck. For some reason he's anxious about telling Sanji what he does.

"Come on, it can't be that bad. Just tell me."

"I uh….. I work with Nojiko -,"

" - Ah~ the beautiful Nojiko~ what was so bad about telling me that -?"

" - At Kid's tattoo parlour…."

_So that's why he didn't want to tell me._ "Really? That's great. It's what you've always wanted to right, tattoos?"

"Yeah...but... aren't you mad that I'm working for Kid….? I know it was a long time ago now but…."

"Seriously Usopp, it's fine. I'm happy for you. You're doing what you like. So, uh…. what about Law? Is he still around?" _I don't even know why I'm asking this. I'd gotten over all this years ago….._

"Yeah, he's still around, and working in the hospital. He and Kid are actually in a proper relationship now, for once. Though it's not exactly as healthy as it could be… Ah yeah, Chopper is helping out at the hospital. Law took him on in an apprenticeship, and he's helping Chopper with his studies in medical school."

"Holy shit that's great. How old is Chopper now?"

"He's 20. Kind of hard to believe huh?"

"Yeah it is. So if Chopper is 20 now, then that makes you and Luffy 22?"

"Yep, and you're 26, right?"

Sanji nods in reply, and their conversation gets interrupted when Usopp's phone rings, Nojiko on the other end telling him to hurry his ass back to work.

"Shit, sorry Sanji, I have to go. Hey, you still have our numbers right? I don't think everyone's has changed since we last saw you, I know mine hasn't."

"I do, and mine hasn't changed either."

"That's great. I'll be in touch."

Usopp gives him a brief hug before rushing off down the street, heading back to work. Sanji smiles as he gets on with his own day, looking forward to hearing from his friends again.

* * *

As Usopp had thought, Luffy wasted no time in getting everyone back together for a party. The young boy now turned 22, still lives with his older brother Ace, and as they used to when they were younger, the party is being thrown at their house. The usual people are there: Luffy, Usopp, Nami, Vivi, Zoro, Chopper, Robin, Brook, and Franky. The only person left to arrive, is Sanji.

While they wait for the blond to turn up, Usopp joins Zoro in drinking a beer on the couch.

"... So you were the one who saw the cook?"

"Yeah I did. I saw him in town the other day. He said he'd bought a building, but he didn't say what for."

"Ah, okay. How was he?"

"Why don't you ask him when he gets here?"

"I'm asking you."

"F-fine…. He seemed okay. We didn't really get to chat for long as I had to get back to work. Oh um, there was one thing… When I mentioned I worked for Kid… he asked about Law… I'm not completely sure, but I think he still hasn't gotten over it. He might still have a thing for Law…"

"He doesn't."

"What? How do you know?"

"He just doesn't, okay?"

"...Right….. Anyway…. you must be excited huh? We haven't seen Sanji since that summer he came back during his first year in uni."

"I saw him once after that."

"Eh?! When?!"

"Around October time, it was after that summer. I went out to visit him."

"Really? You never said."

"It was kind of a spur of the moment thing."

* * *

**Around 5 years ago at a small cafe:**

Sanji hums quietly as he goes around wiping over the round tables, and clearing up the rubbish, glasses, and cutlery that was left behind by previous customers. The blond has been working at this small, bright, and lively cafe for just under six months. He's working here part time as he needs to save up money in order to help cover the cost of his uni expenses. On top of all that, he is juggling his uni assignments, as well as studying for upcoming exams. Although he's busy, it's nothing he can't handle. Sanji is wearing his work uniform of a simple black trousers and polo shirt attire with the cafe's logo printed on them. He is also wearing a pair of comfy black shoes, and he has let his hair grow out (mainly to cut down on costs) and is wearing his blond tied hair up in a ponytail. He likes working part time in this cafe. It may be in the middle of the city, but it often has it's down times during day, where he gets to rest, and he loves the chaoticness of when the place is busy, as he's used to working in the kitchen of the Baratie back home. His only difficulty is trying to keep his foul language in check, especially around difficult customers, though thankfully, even with his occasional slip of the tongue, no one has complained about him to his manager, yet.

It's five in the afternoon on a Sunday, and the place is settling down for the evening. As Sanji goes back out to clean more tables, he's shocked when he sees Zoro sitting by the window and sipping on a cup of coffee. For a minute he thinks his eyes are playing tricks on him, but then Zoro spots him and calls him over.

"Oi cook, what kind of shit is this? And what the hell have you done with your hair?"

"Shut the fuck up marimo," Sanji growls as he stomps over, "the coffee is actually good here."

"Yeah right. How can people even drink this rubbish?"

"...What are you even doing here anyway?"

"I was passing, so…."

Sanji stares dumbfounded at the swordsman, "you live 8 hours away."

"...you never answered, what the hell did you do to your hair?"

"Oi, don't change the subject. What did you come all the way up here for?"

"No reason. Had nothing better to do…"

"Did you come up here to see me?"

"Like hell I did. What would I want to see you for anyway?"

"You did, didn't you?" the blond grins, "how sweet."

Zoro grumbles as he sips on his coffee and glances out the window.

"If you don't like it, you don't have to drink it. You don't even like coffee so what did you buy it for?"

"It was the cheapest thing here."

"Everything is cheap here. You could have got something you actually like."

"... I spent most of the money I had with me on the train ticket…."

"You should have just gotten the bus then. It's cheaper."

"It would have taken longer though and I..."

"And you? What?"

"Nothing…."

"Zoro, what is it?"

"Alright fine, I just wanted to see you, okay? You haven't text or rang anyone in a while and I wanted to see you. If I'd have taken the bus it would have been too late to catch you here and I don't know where it is that you're actually staying. I only know you work here because Zeff told me."

Finally looking back at Sanji he notices that the blond's grin has widened, and Zoro blushes lightly before looking away again, expecting to be teased about admitting what he did, but is slightly surprised when it doesn't happen.

"Thank you. I'm glad you came up. I've been meaning to ring and stuff but it's been a bit hectic with uni and this job at the same time. I'll finish that coffee if you don't want it?"

Zoro passes over the cup of coffee, and watches the blond drink it, "do you like working here?"

"Yeah, it's ok. It's not the Baratie, and I can't actually cook anything as I'm just a waiter, but it's good. I'll be finished in an hour. If you don't mind waiting for me, you could come back to mine afterwards? It won't just us there though; I share a place with a guy called Gin. He's quite a nice guy so he's no problem with you being there."

"... No. It's ok. I'd best be going anyway."

"What? Already? But you haven't been here long."

"The last train back leaves soon, so…."

"Ah, okay. Well I better get back to work before I get told off. It was good seeing you, Zoro."

"Yeah, you too…"

The swordsman bites his lip and tries to stay calm when Sanji kisses his cheek before heading back to work, going behind the counter when an elderly lady comes in to order a small latte. Zoro sighs and steals a glance at the blond before heading out of the door and towards the train station. On his way here his mind was set, but once he saw Sanji today he just couldn't do it, he couldn't tell the cook that he is in love him.

* * *

**Back to the present:**

"So what did you go up there for?" Usopp asks.

"No reason…. Luffy had just been bugging me constantly about Sanji not replying to his messages so I just went up there check on him."

"Ah, I see."

"Does he still have his hair in a ponytail?"

"No, it's the same as before he- wait, what?!"

"When I went to see him in uni his hair was longer and he'd tied it back."

"Eh?! I wish I could have seen that," Usopp pouts, "his hair is pretty much the same as before, but it seems different somehow…I'm just not sure why…"

"Well if you want to see his hair when it was in a ponytail, I snuck a few pictures. I should still have them."

"Oh my god, you creep," Usopp chuckles, teasing him.

Zoro grins as he takes out his phone and find the pictures, showing them to Usopp, "Just don't tell him I have them."

Half an hour later, Sanji finally turns up, and the swordsman's eye widens as he takes in the blond's appearance. Usopp was right, Sanji's hair is pretty much the same as before he left home, except this time it is slightly longer, and his bangs now cover his right eye instead of his left. There is stubble on the cook's upper lip and he also has a goatee. Sanji is wearing a black and yellow three-piece suit, and he seems to look a lot stronger than he used to, he has also gotten slightly taller, but only by a few centimetres, and Zoro reckons he's still taller.

"Sanji~!"

The blond chuckles as he's tackle hugged by Usopp, Luffy, and Chopper. He greets everyone, conversing in small talk, before getting a drink and joining them in the living room. Everyone has gotten taller since he's left, and the ladies have gotten a lot more beautiful with their longer hair, even though they didn't need to as they were beautiful enough, and he swoons over them as he's graced with their presence. It's not long until they all start talking and informing Sanji on what they are up to now, Usopp telling him once more about his job at Kid's tattoo parlour, and Chopper telling him about his apprenticeship with Law at the local hospital.

Luffy is a drifter, going from one small job to the next, while Robin has quit teaching and is now working at a local history museum. Brook has also finished teaching and instead plays live music at local pubs around the city, with his band. Franky is the only one who still works at the secondary school Sanji and the others used to go to, and Zoro, despite what he said to Sanji in the past, is working at Koshiro's dojo. Nami is working as a PA at a local news station and is hoping to eventually be reading the weather forecast on the news, while Vivi works in a popular jewellery store. Sanji is unsurprised, but extremely happy, to find out that since he's been away, Nami and Vivi have gotten together and have now been dating for 4 years.

The last one left to tell his story, is Sanji, and so he tells his friends that after he finished university, he stayed up there and took on a second job in order to save up money to help towards paying off his debt, that he still owes, as well as to open up his own restaurant. He then tells them about his plans to open up a restaurant on the edge of town in this city which he is going to call the All Blue. While he was away he had looked up lots online and had gotten Zeff to check them out for him. Eventually he'd bought an abandoned building and that is the reason he has come home now, so that he can check it out for himself and start working on getting the place refurbished. Once the place is complete, he plans to live above the restaurant, and he also informs his friends that for now, he is renting an apartment not that far away from his future restaurant.

Everyone is happy for Sanji and they congratulate him as they open more bottles of drink. The music is turned up louder and it's not long until most of them are up and dancing while Luffy raids his fridge and cupboards for more food to eat.

Sanji moves to sit next to Zoro on the couch, getting to fully take in the other man's appearance. The swordsman has gotten more muscular since they've last seen each other, and his hair, which is slightly slicked back, has gotten a little longer. Zoro still wears his three earrings, and tonight he is dressed in a white and grey striped, buttoned up shirt, a grey jacket and a similar colour knee-length shorts, as well as white trainer socks with white trainers. He is wearing his black framed glasses for once, which he has been advised that he should wear more often, and what shocks Sanji the most, though he doesn't show it, is the new scar which runs down his now closed left eye.

"Hey marimo, did you miss me?"

"In your dreams, shit-cook," Zoro replies with a smirk and sips his drink, "let's go outside, it's too loud in here. This music is giving me a headache."

"And the booze isn't?" Sanji chuckles as he follows Zoro out into the back garden and joins him on the wooden bench which is just in front of the kitchen window.

They sit there in silence for a while, sipping their drinks, and both subtly stealing glances at one another, looking away in time to not catch each other's eyes, before Zoro finally speaks up, "I can tell that you're looking… and don't want to ask, so I'll tell you. I got this scar on my eye when I was trained by Mihawk."

"What?! Mihawk trained you?! The guy who's title you're trying to take?!"

"Yeah, it's a long story, and I'd rather not go into the details."

"Right, of course. That's fine. Sorry, it was just a bit of a shock."

"I know. The others didn't take it too well," Zoro chuckles, then downs half of his bottle of beer.

"I can imagine."

"Oi, um…. Usopp mentioned that you asked about Law the other day, and you seemed uncomfortable when Chopper mentioned him earlier…. Do you still… have feelings for Law?"

"Fuck no. I got over him years ago. I actually have someone else I like."

"Yeah… Who?"

Zoro's met with silence, and he looks beside him to find that Sanji has passed out next him. He sighs and pries the bottle of beer out of Sanji's hand before he can drop it, then picks the blond up and tells Usopp that he's taking Sanji back to his place, before heading home. He has no idea who this person is that Sanji likes. _Maybe it's that guy he shared a room at uni with….? _And even though he doesn't know who this person may be, Zoro is not going to go down without a fight. He's not like he was six years ago. He's not going to let himself talk his way out of telling the blond how he really feels, not this time around. He knows what he wants, who he wants, and its Sanji.


	14. Dance With Me

**Chapter 14 - Dance With Me**

Zoro groans as he wakes up the next morning, feeling stiff after sleeping on the couch all night, and proceeds to stretch once he's up and on his feet. It is as he's stretching that he realises that there's a wonderful smell in his apartment and he turns towards the kitchen to see Sanji putting the finishing touches to their breakfast.

"You didn't have to put me in your bed."

"Yeah well, I don't have another bedroom, so…"

"I would have been fine on the couch myself…. but thanks anyway. You have quite a nice place. I'm surprised you managed to keep it clean."

"Oi, I can look after myself."

"I never said you couldn't. Just get your ass over here and eat this food."

Zoro grumbles as he walks into the kitchen and sits down at the table before making a start on his breakfast. He hasn't tasted food this good in years, and he's pretty sure that Sanji's cooking has improved since he's been away, but either way he doesn't voice his compliments, as usual.

Sanji eats quietly and sips on his coffee while he watches in disgust as Zoro scoffs down his food at an alarming rate, rivalling the likes of Luffy.

"So what are you doing today?"

"Oi, don't eat with your mouth full, moss head. And if you must know, I'm going to check on how the restaurant is coming along."

"I'll come with you. I can drive you down."

"You don't have to."

"I know."

Sanji smiles as he finishes his food then starts clearing up and doing the dishes as Zoro gets changed to leave.

About half an hour later, they are at the building where the All Blue is being refurbished, and are taking a look around inside. Not much has been done yet, aside from certain walls being knocked down while others are being built to create the new room layouts, and the men who are working on the job inform Sanji that the electrics and plumbing are going to need replacing, which means even more expenses. They take a quick look around, not taking long before going back out to Zoro's car, but only the swordsman gets in and he winds the window down to talk to Sanji.

"Oi shit cook, why aren't you getting in?"

"My apartment isn't far from here so I'm going to walk."

"Not coming back to mine then?"

"No, I need a change of clothes and a shower."

"I could always drive you there so you can grab some clothes, and you could have a shower at mine instead?"

"Can't stand to be away from me, huh marimo?"

"Shut up, of course not."

"Is that you denying the accusation, or are you saying that you can't stand to be away from me?" Sanji asks with a smirk.

"The first one. Just get in the car."

"Like I said, I need to go home and have a shower."

"And like I said, you can have a shower at mine. Its lunch time right, don't you want to cook for me?"

"I'm not your slave, marimo."

"Ah I see. I'll just go home and order a pizza then…."

"Like hell I'll let you eat that shit!"

Zoro chuckles as Sanji gets into the passenger seat, then he drives the blond to his rented apartment to pick up some clean clothes before taking him home. A few hours later, after Sanji has showered and changed, and they've had their lunch, the both of them are watching T.V in Zoro's living room. As there's nothing interesting to them that's currently on, Sanji is flicking through the music channels.

"Oi, wait, go back."

"Huh, what for?"

Sanji goes back a few channels until Zoro tells him to stop, and he's surprised when the song that is currently playing is a slow love song. It's more his thing than Zoro's, so he has no clue as to why the swordsman wants him to stop there, "what do you want this song on for?"

He watches as Zoro gets up from beside him then holds out his hand to him, "dance with me."

"...What?"

"Dance with me?"

"Have you hit your head or something?"

"No. Just dance with me. Come on," Zoro replies as he grabs Sanji's hand and gently pulls him up and off from the couch, not letting go of the other's hand once his standing with him.

"Do you even know how to?"

"Dance with me, and you'll find out."

Sanji nods and blushes lightly as Zoro puts his other hand on his slender waist. The swordsman presses their bodies closer as the music continues to play, smoothly swaying them from side to side, occasionally pulling away to spin Sanji around slowly before pulling him back in. Sanji bites his lip and silently acknowledges how well the other dances, and then wraps his arms around Zoro's neck once he's brought back in once more. The swordsman grins at that, wrapping his arms around the cook's waist and smiling to himself when he feels Sanji's head on his shoulder.

"You're actually quite good at this, marimo. Did you take lessons or something?"

"Not really. Perona taught me. Well, she took the lessons and made me practice with her when she needed to practice outside of the lessons."

"Perona? The pink haired girl who used to go to the same school as us? A few years older?"

"Yeah, her."

"I didn't know you two were so close."

"We weren't. When I was at Mihawk's place training, she was staying with him. She took the dance lessons to try and impress him. Don't know why. I'm not sure if she ever showed him."

"Well either way, I'm jealous~."

Zoro chuckles and interrupts the blond, "of what? Me because I got to dance with what you call a beautiful woman?"

"I wasn't going to say that I'm jealous of you. It's the opposite actually. And Perona is a beautiful woman."

"You're jealous of Perona?"

Sanji nods then smiles as he pulls back slightly to look at Zoro. The song they were dancing to has already finished, a while ago actually, and has changed to a different song, but they never noticed as they were too wrapped in each other.

"She got to teach you how to dance. I'd have liked to do that myself."

"Why? So you could laugh at me when I got it wrong, and tease me about it?"

"Hmm, that too," Sanji smiles, then leans closer and kisses Zoro softly."

The swordsman's eye widens slightly in surprise and he tenses up before relaxing back against Sanji and closing his eye as he kisses the other back, allowing the blonde's tongue to slide into his mouth after asking for permission. Sanji slides his fingers into Zoro's hair and lightly pulls on the strands as he deepens the kiss, both of them gently pulling back when they run out of air, panting softly as they stay close together and watch each other's reactions.

"I've wanted to do that for so long."

Sanji nods and smiles, "me too."

He bites his lip as he glances to the hallway behind Zoro then looks back to the swordsman with a sparkle in his eyes, "bedroom?"

"I thought you'd never ask," Zoro grins, both of them chuckling as the swordsman leads Sanji to his bedroom, for once not getting lost along the way.

Once there, Sanji pulls out a small bottle of lube and some condoms from his jacket pocket, placing them on the bedside table, causing the swordsman to raise his eyebrow in question.

"Do you always carry this stuff with you?"

"N-no…. I grabbed them when we went to my place to pick up some clothes… I kind of planned to make a move on you, but you beat me to it…."

The blond blushes lightly and glances away when he sees the smirk on Zoro's face, "I can't believe you brought this with you -"

"- Oi shut up! The last time I saw you, you were still a virgin, so I couldn't rely on you to have this shit."

"I still am."

"What?"

Sanji looks back towards the swordsman to see a serious expression on the other man's face, but he wasn't prepared for the smirk to come back and for what Zoro said next.

"Though that doesn't necessarily mean I wouldn't have any lube."

"Oh my god… You…. I just… I can't…"

The blond erupts into fits of laughter, Zoro chuckling at him as he tries to calm it down, "what? There's nothing wrong with that. Now come on, are we doing this or what?" the swordsman asks as he walks over to his bed, unbuttoning his shirt, and then carelessly dropping it to the floor beside him.

Sanji's laughter dies down as he takes in the image of the shirtless swordsman and he absentmindedly licks his lips. Wordlessly, the blond steps forward, succumbing to his desire, and he wraps his arms around Zoro's neck, pulling him in for a passionate kiss, parting his lips to give an invitation for the other's warm tongue. Zoro wastes no time and practically shoves his tongue into the blond's mouth, swirling their tongues rapidly and quickly peeling off layer after layer of clothing. Sanji pulls his best friend on top of him once he's on the bed, wrapping those long dangerous legs around the man's muscular waist. Slight moans are released between their kiss as Zoro begins to caress down Sanji's slender sides, down to that frequently irritating belt. After noticing his marimo struggling with the article, the blonde takes it off instead. Their kiss finally parts when the need for air becomes too desperate, but it doesn't stop the swordsman from attacking the cook's neck with kisses and light bites to the sensitive, pale skin. For a virgin, Zoro knows what he's doing for the most part.

"Ngh, Z-Zoro...," Sanji whispers breathlessly between moans as he feels Zoro's lips travel down along his body.

Each kiss leaves a lingering heat as they slowly reach further and further down to the cook's most sensitive area. Pants and boxers are quickly discarded by Zoro, leaving them both fully naked on the swordsman's bed, and he only hesitates slightly to run his velvet tongue all over Sanji's throbbing erection slowly. Taking his time, since he's a virgin, it's obvious that Zoro at least has some idea about what he is doing, even if it is hesitantly and at a snail's pace which is driving the blonde insane with impatience and arousal. Sanji's moans and pleas for more only escalate after watching his cock slowly disappear into Zoro's mouth. The sensation is too unbearable as Sanji grips the sheets tightly until his knuckles turn white, struggling to keep his voice down so that they don't disturb their neighbours'. The swordsman gags slightly, but gets over it quickly as he's secretly enjoying this as much as the cook. Sanji gently makes the other pull away before he comes too early, smirking as he flips their positions over. He grabs the bottle of lube he had with him, popping the cap open.

Zoro watches in anxious anticipation as the cook squirts the cool gel onto his fingers. His expression tenses up when one of those long digits slide into his rear. Sanji waits a moment so the swordsman can adjust to the new penetration before pumping his finger in and out slowly, gently adding another one a short while later. After deeming Zoro fully prepared, the blonde slowly removes his fingers and earns a faint whimper from the swordsman. The cook opens the condom wrapper with his teeth, carefully sliding the rubber onto his shaft. The swordsman watches as the other smears lube onto his covered cock. Sanji slowly pushes his length into Zoro, watching him for any signs of discomfort. A simple nod is all it takes to give Sanji the permission to continue. The thrusts start out slow and slightly gentle so that the swordsman wouldn't be in too much pain. Of course the blonde doesn't hold back with his strength when the force of the thrusts increased greatly. Zoro doesn't moan loudly as most would, he grunts and lets out faint moans of pleasure here and there which Sanji had honestly expected from the man, though that doesn't mean that he's going to give up easily on trying to break the swordsman's who's currently under him, becoming more dishevelled by the second. Both of them are reaching their limits, after holding back on each other for so long and needing this as much they need air, while Sanji's movements become more erratic, slamming into the swordsman with all his strength, only slowing down as they reach their climaxes.

He stays there hovering over Zoro for a few seconds while they catch their breath, then he slowly pulls out and discards of the condom before cleaning them up and joining the swordsman back on the bed. Still panting softly they look into each other's' eyes and grin. No words need to be exchanged at this point; simply looking into each other's eyes is more than enough proof to portray their emotions. It took them a long time to get to this point, between Sanji's constant ex partners, Zoro's inability to confess how he really felt, and with Sanji's going off to university and not returning home for six years, but the wait was worth every second.

* * *

Eight months later, Sanji's restaurant has finished being refurbished, and it's exactly a week before the opening night of All Blue. The upstairs has been finished too, all that's left is to unpack the boxes full of Sanji's things, and that is exactly what he and Zoro are doing. As they unpack the boxes which are currently placed in the living, the radio is playing, tuned in to one of the local radio stations.

"How can one person have so much shit?"

"Oi, shut the fuck up, marimo, it's not shit….Oi, moss-head… what are you being quiet for all of a sudden?"

Sanji turns around and his eyes widen when he sees Zoro smirking at him smugly, holding up a small dark green blanket.

"You kept it, all this time?"

"O-Oi, give me that!"

The blond makes a grab for the object in Zoro's hand, but the swordsman holds it out of reach as Sanji chases him around the living room, trying to get it back.

"That's not what you think it is!"

"Oh really? It sure does look like it~ and hey, look shit-cook, it's got my name on the label~."

Sanji groans as he gives up trying to get the blanket back, and he get back to unpacking his things, Zoro chuckling at him as he watches.

"I don't know what you're laughing at, you shitty swordsman. You still have my old teddy bear in your apartment."

"You looked through my things?!"

"No, but now I don't have too~."

"I hate you…," Zoro grumbles.

"Now, we both know that's not true~," Sanji grins as he walks over to Zoro and wraps his arms around the swordsman's neck, "we both know that you love me really~."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah~."

Sanji leans in to kiss him, but he stops when the song on the radio changes and plays the exact same song they'd first slow danced to together a few months back.

Zoro grins when he recognises the song, "would you like to dance?"

"I'd love to."

The blond smiles as Zoro's arms wrap around his waist, pulling him in closer, and they slowly dance to the song, just like they did the first time.

"Hey, Zoro?"

"Hmm?"

"Move in with me."

The swordsman stops dancing and looks to the cook in disbelief, "really? You want me to move in with you? I thought you liked having your own space?"

"I do…. but things changed….. So, will you move in with me?"

Zoro nods, and then grins as he kisses Sanji, "Of course I will."

Kissing him once more, the swordsman then pulls away slightly and spins Sanji around slowly before bringing him back in, wrapping his arms around the blond as they continue to dance to the rest of the song. The boxes filled with Sanji's things can wait for just a little while longer.


End file.
